Brandon McManus is back in the NFL after the Green Bay Packers signed him to replace struggling rookie kicker Brayden Narveson.
The Packers announced Wednesday they had signed McManus and had released Narveson, who had an NFL-high five missed field-goal attempts.
This move comes after the NFL said late last month it did not find sufficient evidence to support claims that McManus sexually assaulted two women who were working as flight attendants on the Jacksonville Jaguars’ trip to London last year. The league considers the case closed, paving the way for McManus to rejoin a team, though it could be reopened if new evidence emerged.
“Obviously he wouldn’t be available right now if those accusations weren’t out there, but I think the league did a really thorough investigation, and we leaned on that as we went through it,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said.
The civil case remains active in Duval County Circuit Court in Florida. A message sent to attorneys representing the women was not immediately returned.
Gutekunst was asked if the team had done its own investigation into the allegations.
“Our investigation was really linked with that,” Gutekunst said, referring to the NFL's investigation. “But at the same time, obviously with every acquisition we make, we go through those things.”
Gutekunst said he also had spoken to McManus on Tuesday.
“We wanted to make sure that we did our due diligence,” Gutekunst said. "Again, we feel really good about that where we sit right now. We’re excited to get him out there.”
In court documents initially filed in late May under pseudonyms and then again in early September using their names when a judge ruled the lawsuit did not meet the criteria for anonymity, the women allege McManus tried to kiss one of them and rubbed up against both while they were trying to perform their work responsibilities during the Sept. 28, 2023, trans-Atlantic flight. The team was on its way to play a pair of games in England.
McManus signed with Washington as a free agent in March and was on the Commanders' roster when the lawsuit was filed. They released him soon after.
The 33-year-old joins Green Bay in the aftermath of Narveson missing his league-worst fifth field goal this season Sunday in a 34-13 victory over Arizona. The Packers have struggled to find a reliable kicker since moving on from Mason Crosby, who held down the job from 2007-22 and remains the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.
Green Bay selected Anders Carlson out of Auburn in the sixth round of the 2023 draft, but he capped an inconsistent rookie season by missing a 41-yard field goal in the fourth quarter of a 24-21 playoff loss at San Francisco. After Carlson and veteran Greg Joseph competed for the job in training camp, the Packers went in a different direction and claimed Narveson off waivers from the Tennessee Titans.
Narveson was 12 of 17 on field-goal attempts this season without attempting any from beyond 49 yards.
“Brayden’s a very talented, young kicker,” Gutekunst said. "But he’s young. He’s going through some things for the first time. I think where our football team is at right now, we know how important these games are. I thought it was important that if we had an opportunity to get a veteran kicker who’d been through some of these fires and some of this pressure that our team is going to go through over the next few weeks, I thought it was important that we acquire one. And really Brandon was the only one that was out there.”
McManus, a Philadelphia native who played college football at Temple, spent his first nine years with Denver and was with the Broncos when they won the Super Bowl in the 2015 season. He played for Jacksonville in 2023.
He has made 81.4% of his career field-goal attempts. McManus has made just 54.9% of his career attempts from at least 50 yards (45 of 82) but has made 90.8% of his other attempts (208 of 229).
McManus also has made 97.2% of his extra-point attempts (312 of 321).
He was 30 of 37 on field-goal attempts and 35 of 35 on extra points with the Jaguars last season.
In another move announced Wednesday, the Packers signed wide receiver Malik Knowles to the practice squad.
AP Sports Writer Steve Megargee in Green Bay, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.
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FILE - Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Brandon McManus (10) kicks off the ball during an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Doug Murray, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former Las Vegas-area Democratic elected official was sentenced Wednesday to serve at least 28 years in Nevada state prison for killing an investigative journalist who wrote articles critical of his conduct in office two years ago and exposed an intimate relationship with a female coworker.
A judge invoked sentencing enhancements for use of a deadly weapon and the age of the reporter to add eight years to the minimum 20-years-to-life sentence that a jury set in August after finding Robert Telles guilty of first-degree murder.
“The judge couldn't sentence him to any more time," Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said after telling reporters the sentence represented justice for the community. “She gave him the maximum.”
Telles, 47, testified in his defense at trial, denying he stabbed Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German to death in September 2022. But evidence against him was strong — including his DNA beneath German’s fingernails.
Telles was the administrator of a county office that handles unclaimed estate and probate cases when he was arrested and jailed without bail several days after German's murder. He was stripped of his elected position weeks later.
Standing in shackles before the judge on Wednesday, Telles offered “deepest condolences” to German's family but again denied responsibility for the reporter's death.
“I understand the desire to seek justice and hold somebody accountable for this,” he said. “But I did not kill Mr. German.”
Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly told the judge that evidence showed Telles killed German because “he didn't like what Mr. German had written about him. He felt that Mr. German had cost him an elected position."
“This type of violence, this sort of political violence,” the prosecutor said, “is unacceptable and dangerous for a community as a whole.”
Telles’ defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, asked for leniency for Telles and told the judge that Telles intends to appeal his conviction. After sentence was pronounced, Draskovich withdrew as Telles' defense lawyer.
“The sentence was not surprising,” Draskovich said outside court. “We fulfilled our defense obligation. We parted on good terms. (Telles) preserved all his rights for appeal.”
German was 69. He was a respected reporter who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.
Telles lost his primary for a second term in office after German’s stories in May and June 2022 described turmoil and bullying at the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian office and a romantic relationship between Telles and a female employee. His law license was suspended following his arrest.
Police sought public help to identify a person captured on neighborhood security video driving a maroon SUV and walking while wearing a broad straw hat that hid his face and an oversized orange long-sleeve shirt. Weckerly showed the jury footage of the person wearing orange slipping into the side yard where German was stabbed, slashed and left dead.
At Telles’ house, police found a maroon SUV and cut-up pieces of a straw hat and a gray athletic shoe that looked like those worn by the person seen on video. Authorities did not find the orange shirt or a murder weapon.
Telles testified for several rambling hours at his trial, admitting for the first time that reports of the office romance were true. He said he was “framed” for the crime by a broad conspiracy involving a real estate company, police, DNA analysts, former co-workers and others. He told the jury he was victimized for crusading to root out corruption.
Wolfson and prosecutors at trial dismissed those claims as unbelievable.
“The jury squarely and soundly rejected all of that,” Weckerly said at sentencing. She called Telles' accounts ”hollow claims."
Other evidence against Telles was strong. Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told the jury that Telles blamed German for destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.
Telles told the jury he took a walk and went to a gym at the time German was killed. But evidence showed Telles’ wife sent text messages to him about the same time killed asking, “Where are you?” Prosecutors said Telles left his cellphone at home so he couldn’t be tracked.
The jury deliberated nearly 12 hours over three days before finding Telles guilty. The panel heard pained sentencing hearing testimony from German's brother and two sisters, along with emotional pleas for leniency from Telles’ wife, ex-wife and mother, before deciding that Telles could be eligible for parole.
Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt was able to consider sentencing enhancements adding up to eight years to Telles' sentence for using a deadly weapon in a willful, deliberate, premeditated killing because German was older than 60 years old. With two years already spent in custody, Telles will be eligible to seek parole when he is about 73 years old.
“This defendant has shown absolutely no remorse, no acceptance of responsibility," said Wolfson, the Democratic elected regional prosecutor. "And in fact, his behavior is such that I believe he is an extreme danger to the community if he is ever released.”
German was the only journalist killed in the U.S. in 2022, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The nonprofit has records of 17 media workers killed in the U.S. since 1992.
“The sentencing of Robert Telles marks a significant milestone in the quest for justice," Katherine Jacobsen, the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator at the committee, said Wednesday in a statement to The Associated Press. "Although the jailing of Telles cannot undo Jeff German’s murder, it can act as an important deterrent to would-be assailants of journalists.”
FILE - District Judge Michelle Leavitt speaks during a hearing for a juror question during deliberations for murder trial for Robert Telles, a former Clark County public administrator charged in the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Aug. 26, 2024. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, right, talks to Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German in his Las Vegas office, May 11, 2022. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
FILE - Robert Telles, right, a former Clark County public administrator charged in the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, listens to closing arguments during his murder trial at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Aug. 26, 2024. With Telles are his attorneys Robert Draskovich, left, and Michael Horvath. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool, File)
