Commanders Release Kicker Brandon McManus After Two Flight Attendants Accuse Him Of Sexual Assault

The Washington Commanders released kicker Brandon McManus on Monday after two flight attendants charged him with sexual assault. 

The two women accused the NFL kicker of sexually assaulting them during the Jacksonville Jaguars’ overseas flight to London last year. They also sued the Jaguars for failing to provide a safe environment. The lawsuit was filed in Duval County, Florida Circuit Civil Court. The women, known as Jane Doe I and Jane Doe II, claimed that McManus rubbed himself on them and ground against them.

Both demanded an excess of $1 million and a jury trial.

McManus signed with the Commanders this offseason after spending last season with the Jaguars.

The two women were flight attendants on Jacksonville’s flight to London in September 2023. The lawsuit noted that the flight was the first one the women worked on and that they experienced severe anxiety and emotional distress. They argued that several players, including McManus, invaded their personal space, turning the flight “into a party.”

In addition, the women alleged that McManus passed out $100 bills to get flight attendants to dance inappropriately for him. The lawsuit claimed that the Jaguars acted with gross negligence by failing to train McManus about inappropriate conduct and adopting policies protecting staff from sexual misconduct by employees.

McManus’s attorney, Brett Gallaway, slammed the allegations, referring to them as “demonstrably false.” “These are absolutely fictitious allegations made as part of a campaign to defame a talented and well-respected NFL player,” Gallaway commented in a statement.

McManus was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in 2013 but signed with the New York Giants the following season. The Giants then traded McManus to the Denver Broncos after the 2014 preseason. McManus’s Bronco career lasted nine seasons and saw him play a role in Denver’s Super Bowl 50 run—he made 10 of 10 field goals that postseason and owned the team’s second-highest-ever field goal percentage, 82.5%.