GREEN BAY — Mike McCarthy's expectations for new punter Jeremy Kapinos are relatively simple and straightforward — the emphasis being on straight and forward.

"I want him to punt the ball in the right direction," the Green Bay Packers coach said Wednesday, as his 5-7 team prepared for Sunday's must-win game against the Houston Texans at Lambeau Field. "I'm expected to win games. He's expected to punt the ball in the right direction. I'm not trying to be funny."

After Monday's release of Derrick Frost, who ranked 26th in both gross (42.1) and net (36.1) average on 48 punts in 12 games, the Packers brought in Kapinos and ex-Pittsburgh Steelers punter Paul Ernster for workouts Tuesday, then worked out two more punters, Durant Brooks and Danny Baugher, Wednesday after practice.

McCarthy said Kapinos and Ernster punted both inside the Don Hutson Center and outside. McCarthy thought Brooks and Baugher would be limited to punting inside by poor field conditions created by the snow that moved through Northeastern Wisconsin Wednesday.

Not long after Brooks and Baugher's auditions ended, the team inked the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Kapinos, who'll wear No. 7.

"When I talk to him, I'm going to tell him exactly what is expected of him," McCarthy said. "We do with everybody that is involved with our football team."

Kapinos, who played collegiately at Penn State, signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2007 but was released before the start of the regular season. He was re-signed to the practice squad and later promoted to the 53-man roster for one game, averaging 41.6 gross yards and 36.4 net yards on five attempts on Dec. 23, 2007 in a game at Tennessee. He landed two of his five punts inside the 20-yard line.

Kapinos, 24, was the Nittany Lions' punter all four of his seasons in Happy Valley, averaging 41.8 gross yards on 249 career punts. As a senior, he was a finalist for the Ray Guy Award and a third-team all-American but he was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

Packers general manager Ted Thompson was out of town scouting Tuesday and Wednesday and did not return a message left with his administrative assistant. Presumably, directors of football operations John Schneider and Reggie McKenzie, along with special teams coordinator Mike Stock, helped with the selection of Kapinos, who'll practice with the team today, when it does most of its punt coverage work.

"This is purely a performance issue, and we're looking for the best candidate," McCarthy said.

That's how McCarthy described the decision to release Frost earlier this week. Frost was released Monday, one day after he averaged 43.8 gross yards, 32.3 net yards and 3.63 seconds of hang time on four punts in Sunday's loss to Carolina. His first attempt, a 2.96-second line-drive 40-yarder that netted just 28 yards, resulted in a chorus of boos from the Lambeau Field crowd.

The Packers, who went without a punter during Wednesday's practice, went with Kapinos over Brooks and Ernster. A sixth-round pick from Georgia Tech, Brooks beat out Frost for the Redskins' punting job and averaged 39.6 gross yards (35th) and 32.1 net yards (35th) on 26 punts before his release after six games. Ernster averaged 31.6 gross yards (37th) and 31.3 net yards (37th) on 12 punts for Pittsburgh before being cut in favor of veteran Mitch Berger.

McCarthy said backup quarterback Matt Flynn will take over for Frost as the holder for kicker Mason Crosby, with No. 3 quarterback Brian Brohm and wide receiver Ruvell Martin as alternates.

"The holding, I'm not concerned about that," McCarthy said. "We're very comfortable with Matt there, and I know Mason is also."