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According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, the New York Giants have informed rookie kicker Brandon McManus that he has lost the team's kicker competition. The Giants will waive McManus and move forward with veteran kicker Josh Brown.
This is potentially good news for the Philadelphia Eagles. Add McManus to the list of recently released kickers (including Jay Feely and Dustin Hopkins) that might be available to the Eagles if they so wish to sign one.
As I wrote yesterday, McManus should be one of the top options for Philadelphia. He's had a very good preseason performance. Of the 11 kickoffs McManus has attempted, 10 of them have been recorded as touchbacks. McManus went 2/2 on field goal attempts with makes from 46 and 47 yards.
McManus, a native of Hatfield, PA, attended college in Philadelphia at Temple. During his senior season there he kicked 40 touchbacks on 56 kickoff attempts (71.4%). That's impressive. He also went 14/17 on field goal attempts (82.4%) with one of the misses coming on a blocked attempt.
McManus is versatile; he can also punt the ball. In 2012, McManus punted 54 times for 2,433 yards (45.1 average). His career-long punt went for 68 yards. 15 of his 54 punts were longer than 50 yards.
McManus almost makes too much sense for the Eagles to pass up. The 6-3, 201 pound kicker is already used to kicking field goals at Lincoln Financial Field, which is where the Temple Owls play. As Eliot Shorr-Parks noted, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly is friendly with Temple coach Matt Rhule, which is a bonus if Kelly needed more information about McManus.
The Eagles would have to put in a claim on McManus in order to acquire him. They have the 22nd spot in the NFL waiver wire so there is no guarantee they get him, but it's at least worth a shot. McManus could be the answer to the team's kicker problem if the team is ready to move on from Alex Henery and recently acquired rookie Cody Parkey.
[UPDATE] - It turns out that McManus was not waived; he was traded to the Denver Broncos for a conditional 7th-round draft pick instead.
Broncos trade for K Brandon McManus, who was going to be waived by the Giants.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 26, 2014