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Name: Brandon McManus
Position: K
Height: 6’3" Weight: 201 lbs
Age: 25 Experience: 4th
College: Temple
Brandon McManus is just a fun guy to have on the team. He’s the type of guy that has the gall to challenge a member of USA’s Olympic soccer team to a kicking duel.
He’s the type of guy to cause this type of reaction:
And history has made us forget that he was the reason everyone freaked out.
Last season, he missed a 62-yard attempt in week 12 at home against the Kansas City Chiefs that would have put Denver in the playoffs.
And we forgot.
The Good
As far as clutch goes, it doesn’t get much better than McManus and that is why fans are so wanton to forget that negative once realizing that much has relied on McManus often and it usually goes the Broncos way.
McManus owns a current field goal percentage of 82.9%, but let's face it... Who cares? Morten Anderson's in the Hall of Fame with a career field goal percentage of 79.69%. Nearly every currently employed NFL kicker has a higher career percentage than that.
The Bad
In the words of Aqib Talib’s high school coach, sometimes thoroughbreds kick. McManus’s payday with his restricted free agent contract came in at a cap hit of $2.746M, that's more than Shane Ray, Bradley Roby, Paxton Lynch, Garett Bolles and Jamaal Charles are taking up this season.
So, how short is his leash? Short enough that Denver didn’t even bother bringing in a kicker to compete this season. McManus is their guy.
Quotable
Broncos special teams coordinator Brock Olivo on McManus’s aspirations to be a team captain.
“I’ll say this about Brandon: I think he has a pretty good presence in the locker room where a lot of kickers don’t. A lot of kickers can be sort of loners, so to speak. They’re the specialists, so they’re a group apart, but I don’t think that Brandon is seen that way in our locker room. That’s just my gut feeling right now from what I’ve seen. I think the idea of him being a captain, I love that about him. I love that he aspires to be that leader. I love that he’s here on a daily basis, he’s grinding. I think guys respect that about him. He’s got a good personality. He’s a very gregarious, outgoing guy, and guys like him. He’s got confidence, swag—people like that.”
Status
He’s the only person on the team that plays the position. Your concern should be who else would match up in blocking drills with that juggernaut of a man, Riley Dixon?