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After releasing veteran Brandon McManus in a move that saved $3.75 million in salary cap space, the Denver Broncos brought in three kickers for workouts and ultimately ended up signing Elliott Fry to a one-year deal.
Fry is currently the only kicker on the 90-man roster, but that doesn’t guarantee that he will be the team’s kicker in Week 1 against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Speaking after an OTA practice on Thursday, Broncos coach Sean Payton indicated that the team will be watching kickers on other teams in addition to watching Fry this summer.
“Look, that’s not the only position we’re going to keep looking at,” Payton said. “One of the things that I learned early on which was interesting — and Bill Parcells taught me this — when he would talk to the team, he would say, ‘Don’t pay attention to the depth chart, just in your meeting room,’ If you’re a safety and you’re just looking at the other strong safety — you’re competing against the other 31 teams’ safeties, as well, because one might become available.
“We had a kicking battle one year in New Orleans with two guys and man, [the media] all charted it each day during training camp. It was either/or. This went on and on, and it was one of those battles where I don’t know if I was any clearer after four weeks than I was when it began. They both did good things, and then had days maybe they weren’t as good. Then the final cut down takes place at 53 and I get a call from someone I know well with another staff that thinks he’s got two kickers.
“We bring him in on Monday, work him out, and we sign neither of the two in the kicking battle. So don’t pay attention to the line in front of you or the room you’re in. You’re competing with yourself to put your best product on the field because there’s 31 other teams that might be deeper in a position and that you have availability for. So we’ll talk about that.”
Payton has a history of moving on from kickers quickly. He went through nine different kickers in his first ten years with the New Orleans Saints before landing on Wil Lutz.
As other teams begin making roster cuts later this summer and more kickers become available, Denver will undoubtedly be tracking the waiver wire. Fry could end up being the team’s Week 1 kicker, but the Broncos haven’t ruled out the possibility of looking elsewhere this summer.
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