The timing of the Denver Broncos choosing to release kicker Brandon McManus on a Tuesday in May was surprising.
Denver had not signed any kickers during free agency, the team did not draft a kicker and the club did not add any undrafted kickers this spring. That made the timing a surprise — there aren’t any other kickers on the roster at the moment.
The timing was unexpected, but McManus being cut wasn’t a huge surprise in itself. The Broncos just didn’t bother with a camp competition before making the move.
McManus converted just 77.8% of his field goals last season. That marked the third-worst percentage in his career and it ranked 29th in the NFL. Those kind of numbers did not justify having the sixth-highest salary cap hit among kickers.
McManus struggled last year, and new coach Sean Payton doesn’t have a history of patience with kickers. As Andrew Mason of DenverSports.com pointed out on Twitter, Payton burned through nine different kickers in his first ten years with the New Orleans Saints before landing on Wil Lutz.
The Broncos have struggled mightily on special teams in recent seasons and Payton clearly made improving that unit a priority this offseason. Payton brought in a new special teams coordinator in Ben Kotwica and a new assistant head coach with a special teams background in Mike Westhoff.
Denver then made a change a punter, a change at long snapper, a change at kick returner, a change at punt returner and now, a change at kicker. Payton has completely revamped the Broncos’ special teams units in one offseason.
Given the coach’s history, Denver’s recent struggles at special teams and McManus’ down year in 2022, parting ways with the kicker isn’t surprising. The timing was unexpected, but moving on was inevitable.
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