Editor’s note: Eleventh and final in a series previewing the Broncos’ position groups entering training camp. Today, special teams.
On the roster (four): P Riley Dixon, LS Mitchell Fraboni, PK Elliott Fry, PK Brett Maher.
How many on the 53?: Three.
Most impactful offseason move: Releasing veteran kicker Brandon McManus.
The Broncos released McManus, the last remaining player on the roster who was on the Super Bowl 50 team, in late May. The move created salary cap flexibility but also ended an era after McManus held the franchise’s kicking duties for the better part of a decade. After working out a handful of options, Denver signed Elliott Fry to the roster. Then Friday the Broncos also signed veteran Brett Maher, setting up a potential camp competition. Change is constant in the NFL, but to give an idea of how big of an adjustment this is for the Broncos, consider that McManus — now in Jacksonville — has 274 career NFL field goal attempts. Fry has six and Maher 116.
Biggest question to answer in camp: Can changing specialist personnel help cure bigger ails?
The Broncos in 2022 had a couple of decent special teams units and a couple of terrible ones. They finished 25th overall in Rick Gosselin’s annual rankings and were last in four categories — kickoff return average, average starting drive position, opponent punting average and opponent net punting average. Fraboni took over long-snapping duties midseason due to an injury to Jacob Bobenmoyer and is the only potential returning starter this year. In addition to a new kicker and new punter, 2022 return man Montrell Washington will have competition, too, from rookie receiver Marvin Mims Jr. and others. Special teams, of course, is about a lot more than four players. So can the revamped specialist group and trio of coaches — Ben Kotwica, Mike Westhoff and Chris Banjo — help engineer an overall turnaround?
Battle to watch: Maher vs. Fry (vs. everybody else)
Fry and Maher are on the roster on the eve of camp, but coach Sean Payton made it clear Denver will be watching the market, too. Maybe the Broncos will pick one quickly or maybe they’ll duke it out for weeks leading up to the regular season. But there will always be other options. Every time a kicker hits the market — Detroit cut Michael Badgley on Thursday, for example — you can bet Denver’s personnel group will be at least conducting diligence work.
Under the radar player: Riley Dixon.
With all of the moving and shaking among specialists, it’d be easy to overlook Denver signing Dixon and opting not to re-sign Corliss Waitman. Waitman led the NFL in punt attempts last year and had bright moments, but also inconsistency. Dixon returns to Denver after starting his career with the franchise in 2017-18, then spending four seasons with the New York Giants and 2022 with the Los Angeles Rams. Dixon’s never missed a game and in 2022 averaged a career-best 48.4 yards per punt (40.6 net average).
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.