Trey Smack is going to be the kicker this year

ASHWAUBENON, WISCONSIN - JUNE 09: Rookie Trey Smack #28 of the Green Bay Packers participates in drills during the Green Bay Packers mandatory minicamp at Don Hutson Center on June 09, 2026 in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) | Getty Images

If this week hasn't made it clear enough, let's go ahead and say it loud and clear: Trey Smack is going to be the Packers' kicker this year.

Despite roster machinations that might have initially appeared to suggest otherwise, that seems to have been the case from the second the Packers traded up to snag him in the sixth round of this spring's draft. The plan was always for Trey Smack to be the kicker, and nothing has changed on that front. Smack has the job, and barring injury or a truly insane collapse in camp, he's going to keep it through the regular season.

The Packers have been sending that message with practically every move they've made not just since Smack was drafted, but dating back to last season. Lucas Havrisik, Smack's recently departed competition, was around and kicking for the Packers while Brandon McManus recovered from an injury. But despite his record-setting performance in Arizona, Havrisik couldn't hang onto the job when McManus came back - apparently because when called upon to kick in practice, he couldn't reliably deliver.

Unless he'd dramatically changed in the intervening few months, that's pretty strong evidence that he was never a real source of competition for Smack. He couldn't take the job from an injured and poorly performing Brandon McManus. What shot did he really have against Smack the draft pick?

Then, enter Lenny Krieg. A potential International Player Pathway (IPP) option because of his German roots, Krieg had a solid performance at the 2025 NFL Combine and has been kicking around (pun very much intended) the Falcons and Jets organizations over the past season plus. After Havrisik departed earlier this week, the Packers signed Krieg just to cut him less than two full days later. Did he actually attempt a kick in Green Bay? If he did, it wasn't noteworthy enough to keep him around.

It seems like there's a pretty obvious plan in the works here. Smack is going to be the kicker, but the Packers are either trying to avoid overworking him or developing their ready sheet in the event that they have to make a call at some point this season. And they want to be up to date on potential alternate kickers not because they don't believe in Smack, but because even kickers need a break in training camp from time to time - and you can't just go into a season blind, either.

The past few years, the Packers have almost always had a couple of kickers around. In the preseason, there can be up to 91 players on the roster, counting an IPP option. It makes sense to devote one of those spots to a kicker, and the IPP exemption opens the door to have an international prospect around without taking up a roster spot for a more important developmental position.

When the regular season rolls around, that IPP designation stays, meaning the Packers can keep an international kicker on their practice squad if they so choose without it affecting the number of players they really want to keep. And for that matter, with 16 spots available on the practice squad, keeping a second kicker just to have one really not that big of an inconvenience.

Just don't expect any kicker they do keep to be a serious threat to Trey Smack. He's all but locked in, and barring something truly unexpected, he'll be the Packers' kicker this year.