Going into the second week of organized team activities, the Denver Broncos have one kicker (Wil Lutz) and one long snapper (Mitchell Fraboni) on the 90-man offseason roster.
The other specialist position — punter — has two players (Riley Dixon and Trenton Gill), perhaps a sign that Denver plans to have a true punter competition this summer.
The Broncos signed Gill (25) on May 15. After playing college football at NC State, Gill was picked by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft. Gill started all 34 games for the Bears over the last two seasons, averaging 46.1 yards per punt with a long of 76 yards. Chicago cut Gill this spring after they used a fourth-round pick to select punter Tory Taylor in the NFL draft.
Gill will have a salary cap hit of $985,000 this season, according to OverTheCap.com. His competition, Dixon, is older (30) and more expensive ($1.735 million). If the two punters turn in similar performances this summer, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Denver go with the younger, cheaper option.
Dixon averaged 46.3 yards per punt last year with a long of 68 yards. His career average is 45.8 yards and his career long is 71 yards.
While fans closely follow the Broncos’ quarterback competition at training camp, a key special teams battle will be happening simultaneously. May the best leg win.
