Tag: Elliott Fry

Cutting Brandon McManus was a ‘tough call’ for Broncos ST coach Ben Kotwica

“Making that transaction was a tough call,” Broncos ST coach Ben Kotwica said of the team parting ways with kicker Brandon McManus.

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The Denver Broncos have a new special teams coordinator in Ben Kotwica this year and a completely overhauled special teams depth chart.

One of the biggest changes Denver made on special teams this offseason was releasing veteran kicker Brandon McManus, who later landed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Kotwica did not ultimately make the final call to cut McManus, but he was part of the conversation.

“Making that transaction was a tough call,” Kotwica said last week. “I think there was a lot of thought going into that. He did a lot of great things here. As a matter of fact, I remember working him out at Temple back in the day outside of Philadelphia when I was with the Jets at that time. He’s done a lot of great things, but that’s part of the business. Transactions occur, and there will be more transactions.”

After cutting McManus, the Broncos signed Elliott Fry to a one-year contract and they invited Randy Bullock to try out at minicamp. Bullock hasn’t been signed so far, but Denver will continue to monitor the kicker market.

“We wish [McManus] nothing but the best,” Kotwica said. “Going to Jacksonville, I think that’s a great spot for him. I know he has a home in Florida. We’re excited about the guys we have in Elliott and Randy. We’ll see how this takes fold as we move forward to the season.”

Denver saved $3.75 million in salary cap space with the McManus release, a move that helped the team afford pass rusher Frank Clark. McManus will be fondly remembered for his contributions during the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 run in 2015, but the team will have a new, cheaper kicker in 2023.

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New Broncos kicker Elliott Fry had a perfect season in the AAF in 2019

Become jumping to the NFL, kicker Elliott Fry went 14-of-14 on field goal attempts in the AAF during the 2019 season.

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After playing college football at South Carolina, kicker Elliott Fry did not immediately get an opportunity in the NFL.

Fry first spent a season in the Alliance of American Football with the Orlando Apollos in 2019. He was a perfect 14-of-14 on field goal attempts in his lone season in the now-defunct AAF. The league did not utilize traditional extra-point attempts to Fry was limited to field goals that spring.

After his impressive AAF season that included a long of 47 yards, Fry was signed by the Chicago Bears. Fry failed to make Chicago’s 53-man roster and he went on to spend time with the Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals from 2019-2023.

After being cut by the Cards last month, Fry was signed by the Broncos following the release of Brandon McManus.

Fry has appeared in three regular-season games in his career — one with the Falcons (2020), one with the Bengals (2021) and one with the Chiefs (2021). Fry is 5-of-6 on field goal attempts in the NFL and 5-of-7 on extra point attempts.

Even after signing Fry, the Broncos will continue monitoring the kicker market as other teams prepare to cut and trade kickers in the coming months.

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Broncos still monitoring kickers even after signing Elliott Fry

Even after signing Elliott Fry, the Broncos will continue to monitor the kicker market in the coming months.

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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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Broncos made 4 roster moves on Wednesday

The Broncos signed K Elliott Fry and TE Tommy Hudson and cut RBs Tyreik McAllister and Jacques Patrick. 

The Denver Broncos made three other roster moves after signing kicker Elliott Fry to replace Brandon McManus on Wednesday.

To make room for Fry on the 90-man offseason roster, the team waived running back Tyreik McAllister. It’s a tough break for McAllister, who was just cut and re-signed about three weeks ago. He’s now hitting the waiver wire for the second time this offseason.

After that, the Broncos signed tight end Tommy Hudson, according to a report from KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis. Hudson (6-5, 255 pounds) entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona State with the Tennessee Titans in 2020. He tried out for the team at rookie minicamp last month.

Hudson has spent most of the last three seasons either on the practice squad or injured reserve. He played in five games in 2021, catching three passes for 31 yards. Hudson becomes the sixth tight end on the roster, joining Greg Dulcich, Adam Trautman, Chris Manhertz, Albert Okwuegbunam and Nate Adkins.

To make room for Hudson, Denver cut running back Jacques Patrick, a former XFL player who signed with the team in May. After cutting McAllister and Patrick, the Broncos’ remaining running backs on the roster are Javonte Williams, Samaje Perine, Tony Jones, Damarea Crockett, Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin.

Broncos signing kicker Elliott Fry to 1-year contract

The Broncos are replacing former kicker Brandon McManus with Elliott Fry.

The Denver Broncos are signing kicker Elliott Fry, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero first reported on Wednesday afternoon. The Broncos later confirmed the news.

To make room for Fry on the 90-man offseason roster, Denver waived running back Tyreik McAllister.

Fry (6-0, 172 pounds) entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina with the Chicago Bears in 2019. He went on to spend time with nine other teams, appearing in three regular-season games from 2019-2020. In his career, Fry is 5-of-6 on field goal attempts with a long of 44 yards. Fry is 5-of-7 on extra point attempts in his career.

Fry will replace Brandon McManus, who was released by the team on May 23. McManus has since signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Fry was among three kickers — joining Brett Maher and Parker White — who worked out for the team last week.

Elsewhere on the free agency front, undrafted running back Emmanuel Wilson signed with the Green Bay Packers after he was cut by the Broncos earlier this month.

Another undrafted player who went to Denver’s rookie minicamp, wide receiver Josh Johnson, has signed with the Barcelona Dragons of the European League of Football.

Meanwhile, former Broncos guard Dalton Risner and cornerback Ronald Darby remain unsigned free agents.

Fry should arrive in time for the team’s second week of organized team activities, which are set to kick off today.

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Broncos cut offensive lineman, host 3 kickers for workouts

The Broncos worked out three kickers on Wednesday and they cut OT Hunter Thedford to make room for OT Cam Fleming on the roster.

After cutting kicker Brandon McManus on Tuesday, the Denver Broncos quickly filled his former spot on the 90-man offseason roster by signing defensive lineman Tyler Lancaster.

After that, the Broncos agreed to terms on a one-year deal with backup swing tackle Cam Fleming. That signing became official on Wednesday. To make room for Fleming, Denver waived offensive tackle Hunter Thedford with an injury settlement.

Thedford had suffered a hip flexor injury and he will get a week of offseason pay as part of his release, according to the Denver Gazette‘s Chris Tomasson.

Tomasson also reported Wednesday that the Broncos brought in three kickers for workouts: Brett Maher, Parker White and Elliott Fry.

Denver is not expected to sign a kicker on Wednesday as the team continues to assess its options, according to Tomasson. Maher did take a physical, though, so that might be a sign that he could be in line to sign once the team opens up a spot on the roster.

Potential kickers Chargers could sign in wake of Dustin Hopkins’ injury

Here are a few kickers on the street the Chargers could bring in.

With Dustin Hopkins added to the injury report with a quad injury, the Chargers could potentially be in the band-aid kicker market.

With minor injuries like Hopkins’, teams usually sign a player to their practice squad and use one of that player’s three elevations to avoid using two roster spots on a kicker. Therefore, poaching a kicker from another team’s practice squad is probably not a viable option.

Here are a few kickers on the street Los Angeles could bring in.

Rodrigo Blankenship

Blankenship was cut by the Colts after Week 1 this season and has yet to land a new job despite missing just one kick in Indianapolis’ season opener. Historically, Blankenship is an accurate short-distance kicker: on field goals 39 yards or shorter, he’s missed only twice in his 22-game career. He’s also 52 of 55 on extra points. The problems start from 40 yards and out, where Blankenship is 16 of 23 and just 1 of 4 on kicks 50 or more yards. The former Georgia kicker has also suffered a hip injury that cut his 2021 season to just five games. Hip injuries are often career killers for kickers. But for a team as aggressive on fourth down as the Chargers, an accurate short kicker could be all they need.

Dominik Eberle

Eberle was in the NFL most recently of the names on this list, kicking for the Lions in Week 4. Unfortunately, he missed two extra points and barely snuck his other kicks inside the uprights in a game Detroit only lost by two points. Eberle was cut partially because incumbent kicker Austin Seibert should be back from injury this week, but Detroit added Michael Badgley on Tuesday as insurance rather than sticking with Eberle. Still, the NFL by and large tries out the same cadre of kickers over an entire season, and Eberle has most recently won one of those tryouts. Keep an eye on him as a potential visitor in the coming days.

Ryan Santoso

If your concern is kickoffs, might I recommend the big-legged Santoso, who has the power to drive every kickoff into or out the back of the end zone? Santoso spent most of this preseason in Jacksonville, where special teams coordinator Heath Farwell described his leg strength as “elite.” Despite that, he was released before playing a regular season game with Jacksonville, who opted to add other teams’ cast-offs and hold a brand new competition leading up to Week 1. As a result, Santoso only has seven career games across the 2019 and 2021 seasons under his belt, missing one field goal and two extra points in those opportunities.

Nick Sciba

The most accurate kicker in college football history, I was a bit surprised that Sciba didn’t catch on anywhere else after spending a few months as Chris Boswell’s understudy. Usually, kickers that sign to teams with established starters do so as an internship before landing somewhere else and earning a job. (Think of every Ravens kicker they’ve traded for late-round picks while Justin Tucker has been there.) Sciba never missed an extra point in his Wake Forest career and went 80 of 89 on field goals, but his career-long was 49 yards. Whether that was a Demon Deacon thing or a Nick Sciba thing is a question that’s largely gone unanswered, but the fact that he’s still on the street in Week 5 tells me his leg is probably far from the strongest.

Elliott Fry

Fry is perhaps best known as being the Falcons’ practice squad yo-yo last season, but he’s also spent time on eight other NFL teams as the perpetual 33rd-best kicker in the league. In three career games split between Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Kansas City, Fry is 5 of 6 on field goals and 5 of 7 on extra points. He lost a competition in Jacksonville to Santoso because of a hip injury, which could also explain why he hasn’t been picked up by a new team yet. Fry was also not among the group of kickers Detroit worked out on Tuesday before signing Badgley. That group included Sam Ficken, Lirim Hajrullahu, Brian Johnson, and Andrew Mevis. Perhaps that means Fry is not yet healthy. But if he is, the Chargers giving him his tenth NFL uniform may be in the cards.

Report: Jaguars signing PK Elliott Fry after workout

With the kicking game looking shaky in the first days of camp, the Jags are signing Elliott Fry according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

There have been a lot of positives surrounding the Jacksonville Jaguars during the first four days of camp when it comes to the offense and defense. However, when it comes to special teams, specifically the kicking game, things have been rocky at best.

The team currently has a kicking competition going on between veteran Ryan Santoso and undrafted rookie Andrew Mevis, but both have had moments where they’ve looked shaky. That was especially the case on Day 4 for Mevis as he finished the day 1-of-4. Even in Santoso’s case, he missed some kicks in warmups, though he was 4-of-4 in practice.

As a result of what they’ve seen the last few days, the Jags are making a move at the kicker position on Friday. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Jags worked out some kickers and will be signing Elliott Fry from the group.

Fry, 27, will be entering his third season in the league and has spent time with the Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, and Kansas City Chiefs as a regular-season player. After playing in three career games (one with each aforementioned team) he was 5-of-6 (83.3% )on field goal attempts and 5-of-7 (71.5%) on his extra point attempts.

In 2019 Fry also spent time with the Orlando Apollos in the Alliance of American Football. While with the Apollos he was 14-of-14 with his longest coming from 44 yards out.

Before entering the league, Fry played at the University of South Carolina where he is their second all-time leading scorer with 359 points.

The Jags haven’t officially announced the move yet, but if they release one of their two current kickers, it probably would be Mevis. Regardless, with the Jags’ first preseason game coming up on Thursday, Fry has a big opportunity ahead of him.

5 players trying out for Broncos at mandatory minicamp

Max Borghi is among five players trying out for the Broncos this week.

The Denver Broncos kicked off mandatory minicamp on Monday with five extra players on the practice field.

The Broncos are trying out five players at camp this week, according to Aric DiLalla of the team’s official website. Here’s a quick look at each of the five tryout players.

Chiefs make roster, practice squad moves on Tuesday

The #Chiefs made some roster and practice squad moves on Tuesday, signaling they expect to get key players back from the Reserve/COVID-19 list soon.

The Kansas City Chiefs continue to tinker with their roster in the wake of their COVID-19 outbreak, this time saying goodbye to some replacement players.

With the NFL and NFLPA agreeing to new rules in accordance with CDC’s recent changes on COVID-19 isolation periods, both vaccinated and unvaccinated players will have an even easier time returning to the field. As a result, the Chiefs appear to have moved on from two players who contributed to the team’s Week 16 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

First up is K Elliott Fry, who was waived from the 53-man roster on Tuesday. Fry replaced starting K Harrison Butker in Week 16, going 3-for-4 on both field goals and extra points on Sunday. He did so in less than perfect playing conditions at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium with swirling wind. Expect him to receive an opportunity with another team following his performance with Kansas City.

The Chiefs also released P Johnny Townsend from the practice squad. The brother of starting P Tommy Townsend, Johnny filled in for his brother in Week 16 while he was on the COVID list. He punted twice in the game with a 45-yard average. This was Johnny’s second stint on the Chiefs’ practice squad and should he not get an opportunity to punt elsewhere, it’s safe to assume this might not be the last time we see him in Kansas City.

In addition to the older Townsend brother, the team released recently-signed practice squad players Paul Adams and Dalton Schoen. They also restored WR Daurice Fountain to the practice squad from the Reserve/COVID-19 list. That means just five players remain in the COVID protocols for Kansas City.

  • CB Rashad Fenton
  • DB Armani Watts
  • K Harrison Butker
  • P Tommy Townsend
  • LB Darius Harris (PS)

The team’s release of both Fry and Johnny Townsend signals that they expect to have their starting specialists back in action for Week 17 against the Bengals. Really, given the new return-to-play rules, there is no reason they shouldn’t be able to return all of these players ahead of their next game.

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