Denver Broncos place kicker Brandon McManus watches his 49-yard field goal during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 1 in Kansas City, Mo. The Broncos severed ties with McManus on Tuesday, releasing the last holdover player from the team that captured Super Bowl 50. (Charlie Riedel/AP photo)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Jacksonville Jaguars signed Brandon McManus in hopes of upgrading their special teams Thursday, two days after Denver dropped the veteran kicker and former team captain.

The Jaguars initially waived kicker Riley Patterson to make room for McManus on their 90-man roster for McManus but eventually traded him to Detroit for a conditional seventh-round draft pick in 2026. Patterson was with the Lions in 2021 and during training camp in 2022.

Detroit made the trade likely because it wasn’t confident it would land Patterson through the league’s waiver process.

McManus had been scheduled to count nearly $5 million against Denver’s salary cap in 2023. The 31-year-old McManus, the last holdover from the Broncos team that won Super Bowl 50, finished his nine-year career with Denver as the second-leading scorer in team history (946 points). He connected on a franchise-most 42 field goals of 50 yards or longer in the regular season and the playoffs.

McManus made 223 of 274 field goals in the regular season while hitting 96.9% of his extra points. His combined field-goal percentage (82%) in the regular season and postseason is the second-best mark in team history behind Matt Prater (82.9%).

McManus was perfect in the playoffs following the 2015 regular season, hitting all 10 of his field-goal attempts and three extra points. He had three field goals when Peyton Manning and the Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in the Super Bowl on Feb. 7, 2016, for the franchise’s third championship.

Patterson made 30 of 35 field goals and 36 of 37 extra points with Jacksonville last season. But he attempted just three from beyond 50 yards.

McManus has hit 42 of 74 attempts of 50 yards or longer, including 8 of 13 last season. Many of those came in Denver’s mile-high altitude.