Allegations of sexual assault against Brandon McManus, levied by two former flight attendants who were part of Jaguars team flights, led to the Commanders releasing the veteran kicker this summer. While the plaintiffs’ civil lawsuit continues, the NFL will not suspend McManus.
The league’s investigation did not find enough evidence to suspend the 10-year veteran under the personal conduct policy, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. Being cleared by the league will help McManus’ effort to resume his career; he has not been tied to a team since the Washington release in June.
The anonymous plaintiffs accused McManus of rubbing himself against them and grinding against them during the Jaguars’ flight to London on September 28, 2023. Both women worked as flight attendants at the time, but they have since been removed from the crew which handles the team’s flights. McManus denied the allegations, but the Commanders cut bait shortly after they surfaced. McManus, who kicked for the Broncos for nine seasons before signing with the Jaguars in 2023, had signed a one-year, $3.6MM deal with the Commanders in March. He ended up keeping his $1.5MM signing bonus.
A Duval County judge had dismissed the women’s lawsuit due to neither revealing their identities, but the accusers have since done so in an amended complaint, according to the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala. While McManus’ attorney has labeled the accusers’ effort as a shakedown, the women maintain their accusations — which extend beyond just McManus. One of the women alleges McManus tried to kiss her while she was strapped into her seat, with Jhabvala adding the suit accuses the Jaguars of not properly educating him on the NFL policy on alcohol during team flights. It is highly likely McManus knew those rules, being a former NFLPA union rep.
This civil filing also accuses the Jaguars of arranging the flight to feature a section for players who wished to drink alcohol, alleging the flight “quickly turned into a party.” NFL rules prohibit alcohol from being served on team flights to and from games. The NFL is also making the determination McManus did not meet the criteria for a suspension without interviewing the alleged victims, Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams adds. The league did not address whether the accusers cooperated with the investigation.
Now 33, McManus played in all 17 Jaguars games last season. He made 30 of 37 field goal tries and connected on all 35 of his PAT attempts. The strong-legged kicker has never made more than 86% of his FG attempts in a season, though the former Super Bowl winner did make 10 of 15 tries from 50-plus yards in 2020 and was good on all 10 of his efforts from 40-49 yards in 2022. Last season, McManus made 5 of 10 kicks from beyond 50 yards and was 11-for-13 from 40-49.
Considering the kicker trouble teams regularly have, it would not surprise if McManus received a workout invite soon. Of course, teams may also be fine passing — or at least waiting until the civil matter concludes — due to McManus playing a lower-value position. The Jaguars drafted Cam Little in Round 6 this year, while the Commanders have cycled through a few kickers since dropping McManus. Austin Seibert is currently Washington’s kicker.
Very interesting. Because many of us, myself included, condemned him immediately. Now I realize that “did not find enough evidence” can mean a LOT of things. If it’s a case of “he said/she said” I’m not sure McManus can do much of anything…
But I wouldn’t be shocked if we hear more from McManus, and I mean in the world of lawsuits, not necessarily on the field.
It’s never popular, especially freshly when accusations come out, but it’s always best to remember that you could be wrong at any time. It’s best not to make any conclusions, whether “guilty” or “innocent”, based on second hand or third hand knowledge whenever possible.
Now, this isn’t over yet. Perhaps compelling evidence will come out, either in favor of the victims’ narrative or McManus’. Until it does, we should all just observe it happens without making any definitive judgements.
Packers on line one.
Does anyone even know what standard the NFL actually has for suspensions? I mean, it’s not like he led a dangerously high speed car race in traffic that resulted in a 6 vehicle crash and then fled the scene? Oh wait…
It depends on the access to information the NFL gets. If this is a charter plane hired by the team, I’d assume they’ll get enough, if the charter company wants to keep the contract. I’ll bet McManus hit them up for the mile high club and they declined. But no evidence of anything. The attorney is trying to make it look worse by throwing out the drinking on the plane thing.
So much for “every person accused of a crime is presumed innocent unless and until his or her guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt.”
He should sue the women for taking away his career.