Fresh off the team’s pro day, Wisconsin Badgers kicker Nathanial Vakos has been in contact with a pair of NFL teams.
The Packer Report’s Easton Butler reported that both the Packers and the Cleveland Browns spoke with Vakos after his pro day.
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Vakos was on the Lou Groza Award preseason watch list in 2025. He ended up going 7-of-11 on his field goal attempts but was a perfect 19-19 on extra points.
The Packers’ issues with special teams are well-documented. They just lost their special teams coordinator, Rich Bisaccia, and have struggled to find a permanent kicker since the end of Mason Crosby’s tenure.
Vakos, who began his career at Ohio, was 56-of-76 in his four-year career. He made all but one of his 134 extra point attempts, with that lone miss coming when he was a freshman. For reference, he attempted 50 extra points that year, but only attempted 50 in his last two years combined with the Badgers.
The Browns went 5-12 a year ago with 27-year old rookie Andre Szmyt as their main kicker. The Syracuse graduate, who was a redshirt freshman back in 2018, went 24-of-27 and was 25-of-26 on extra points. In comparison, Packers’ Brandon McManus was just 24-of-30, while Lucas Havrisik was a perfect 4-of-4. McManus was 32-of-33 on his extra point attempts, while Havrisik was 7-of-9.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin football kicker Nathanial Vakos Packers Browns interest