Finding Broncos: Five Specialists for Additional Competition

Finding Broncos scouts the 2023 NFL Draft with a group of specialists to bring competition with the special teams unit.

The Denver Broncos have had plenty of issues with their special teams' units over recent years. In the 2022 season, they hit a new low as one of the worst units, primarily due to issues with their punting team. They made a change at punter, but it wasn't a significant upgrade. Riley Dixon, who started his career in Denver, averaged 1.8 yards more per punt than Corliss Waitman, with his net average being 0.7 yards less than Waitman. When you looked at advanced numbers, there still isn't much to say it was an upgrade. 

Then you look at Brandon McManus, who was 34th out of 40 kickers in field goal percentage last year. He is at a point financially the Broncos can make a switch, but before they do, they need someone to replace him. For that competition, they can find both in the 2023 NFL Draft, though they'll likely be picking from those who don't hear their name called with only five picks. 

Michael Turk | Punter | Oklahoma

© SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

Pros

• He has punted 179 times over four seasons, averaging 47.3 yards per attempt. 
• He has plenty of strength, setting the record among specialists at the NFL Combine for bench press before returning to college a few years ago. 
• He has only had one punt blocked in his career. 
• He is thickly built, which can help him take hits if they come. 
• He has plenty of power to flip the field when he gets pinned deep. 

Cons

• There is a habit of out-punting his coverage. 
• He has to have more touch with his punting. 
• His net average is nearly five yards fewer than his punt average. 
• He doesn't have a great hangtime, averaging 4.21 seconds in his career. 
• There will be issues in shorter fields because of the lack of touch and control to pin opponents back deep. 

Fit with Broncos

Turk has a chance to be drafted, which would take him out of consideration for the Broncos. They can't afford to use one of their five picks on a specialist. However, Turk would be a solid fit, but he would need to develop touch on his punts for punting at altitude. 

Bryce Baringer | Punter | Michigan State

© Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Pros

• He has punted 160 times over four seasons. 
• He has a solid average of 46 yards per punt. 
• There has only been one blocked punt. 
• When he has dealt with bad snaps, he has done well to secure them and speed up his punt to get it out of danger. 
• He has good control of his punt placement. 
• There is plenty of power to let it fly and flip field position when pinned back. 

Cons

• His hangtime is not nearly good enough, coming in at 3.78 seconds on average. 
• He has to find balance with his punting between power and improving the hangtime for the NFL. 
• He averaged under 42 yards net due to him out-kicking his coverage. 
• He has issues when working with a shorter field, where his accuracy falters to his power leading to touchbacks. 

Fit with Broncos

If Baringer could find consistency with his touch and accuracy in short-field situations, he would probably be viewed as the best punter in the class. Unfortunately, there is still a good chance he gets drafted, which doesn't bode well for the Broncos. The accuracy issues are a concern with balancing it out with power, especially when punting at altitude. 

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Brad Robbins | Punter | Michigan

© Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Pros

• Despite the windup time, he has only one blocked punt in his 180 career punts. 
• He has excellent touch and accuracy with his punts. 
• He is an excellent short-field punter with his accuracy and touch, with only nine career touchbacks, none of them in 2022. 
• He kicks within coverage, with only 23.3% of his punts returned, with 16.3% in 2022. 

Cons

• There may not be consistent power with his punts averaging 42.9 yards per punt, with a net of 40.2 yards. 
• He has a long windup with his punt to get it away, leading to multiple close calls. 
• He won't flip fields when he is pinned back. 
• The hang time isn't great, averaging 4.18 seconds on his career. 

Fit with Broncos

If the Broncos want to bet on their offense being able to move the ball more consistently, Robbins would be a great option to compete with Riley Dixon. While he doesn't have the power to flip the field, if the offense can consistently get a first down or two, his accuracy and touch of Robbins would be tremendous. 

Anders Carlson | Kicker | Auburn

© Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Pros

• He made multiple big-time kicks during his career. 
• He has excellent accuracy on his kicks, in short range. 
• He is reliable under the 40-yard mark, where he has only missed five kicks during his career. 
• His reliability on shorter kicks is there on extra points, where he has only missed three in his career. 

Cons

• He has missed 31 field goals in his career, leading to a made percentage of only 71.8. 
• After going 20-22 in 2020, he has gone 26-38 since. 
• His leg strength is questionable, going 48-53 under 40 yards while 30-56 over 40 yards. 
• There are questions about his leg when it comes to kickoffs, where the opponent starting spot, on average, was the 26.4-yard line. 

Fit with Broncos

If the Broncos want to add Carlson, and if they were to go with him, they would need to have a reliable short-yard punter or be more aggressive on offense. Carlson doesn't have the leg to be reliable on kicks over 40 yards, so in that range beyond that, they'll have to punt or go for it. They would also need a punter who can handle the kickoff duties. 

Chad Ryland | Kicker | Maryland

© Brent Skeen-USA TODAY Sports

Pros

• He does well under 30 yards and in the 40-49 range, making 43 out of 48 attempts. 
• He has only missed five extra points out of 185 tries in his career. 
• He handled kickoff duties in college with 263 kickoffs under his belt.
• While it isn't a great time, his 3.93 average hangtime on kickoffs isn't too far from NFL standards.  

Cons

• The career field goal percentage is 77.3%. 
• His range is inconsistent, struggling from 30-39, making only 67.6 of his attempts. 
• When kicking beyond the 50-yard mark, he made 60% of his attempts.
• The average starting position was the 27.5-yard line. 
• His hang time wasn't great at 3.93 seconds.  

Fit with Broncos

Ryland is an interesting one with the inconsistency in his range. He could be someone to bring competition with McManus, but he may not be an upgrade over McManus as a rookie. The question is if the Broncos will want to take a kicker to develop or if they are looking for more of an immediate upgrade. 

There are some solid options to bring added completion at both punter and kicker, even beyond these five. Even if they don't draft one, which wouldn't be advisable, they need to look at adding someone else instead of handing the jobs to Dixon and McManus. 

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