A No Bull look at the Denver Broncos special teams roster, its strengths, weaknesses, and what we can expect George Paton and Sean Payton to target this offseason
With the Denver Broncos offseason kicking off, it is a great time to step back, take a look at the roster, and play a little armchair GM leading up to all of the excitement of possible free-agent signings, trades, and of course the NFL Draft.
Let me give a tip of the hat to www.footballguys.com for their information on snap percentages and www.overthecap.com for their information on current contracts for all players.
All of this is my personal opinion based on my tried-and-true eye test of what I’ve seen from these players on the field this season. For the sake of brevity, I’ll be leaving out guys who didn’t see the field in any significant way in 2024 and most Unrestricted Free Agents.
Enjoy the discussion, join the subjective debate, and share your thoughts (good or bad) in the comments.
Next up, we’ll examine the special teams and determine what holes the Broncos should look to fill in the 2025 NFL offseason.
Player Rating Key
- Project / developmental – lacking necessary skills to contribute as it stands today
- Backup quality – Can play, but isn’t a guy you want out there every snap
- Average starter – Doesn’t bring anything special to the table, but can do the job
- Good starter – An above-average talent
- Blue chip player – Top 10 talent in the NFL at what he does
Unit Rating Key
- Critical Need – lack of talent at starter and depth
- Lacking at least one starter
- Mediocre need
- Solid talent and depth
- Elite talent level
Kicker
Wil Lutz – 4
Wil Lutz is an impressively consistent kicker. He had one painful block on the season which was due to poor blocking, but outside of that, I treasure not having to worry about our kicker. He was 91.2% as a field goal kicker and held it down all season for the team.
One thing to notice is that he’s not asked to boot many long field goals. That could be an effect of how Sean Payton coaches more than a statement on his leg. He has no trouble hitting 55-yarders and sometimes greater during warm-ups, so it definitely isn’t an issue with ability.
With all the needs we have on the team, I doubt we see any serious competition for Lutz this offseason though I would expect to bring in a camp leg just to look at a potential upgrade and have a backup option in case of injury.
Punter
Riley Dixon – 4
Riley Dixon was a superb punter for the Broncos in 2024. He’s a punter who doesn’t have a top-tier leg when looking at distances of the punt (though that can be deceiving…too much distance without enough hang time is a bad combination), which is the only reason I don’t give him a 5.
He’s 10th in the league at net yards per punt though which speaks to the quality of punts he’s putting out there. Teams have trouble getting solid returns against us.
He’s also one of the best punters in the league at pinning teams back inside the twenty-yard line. His ability to consistently place the ball well where his team has an opportunity to down it is what sets him apart as a punter.
I normally don’t review unrestricted free agents, but I am making an exception for Dixon. His level of play has to be the standard for punting if they don’t bring him back. Given his status as an unrestricted free agent, he may honestly price himself off the team if he’s looking for a payday (which he should).
Returner
Marvin Mims Jr. – 5
Marvin Mims Jr. is arguably the best returner in the game today. He’s a threat to take it to the house any time he gets an opening to return the ball. He does a superb job of gaining yards in general on returns and has shown himself to be sure-handed (the #1 thing in being a returner in my books). He was awarded 1st team All-Pro honors and was voted into the Pro Bowl as well this season.
It is safe to say that there’s no need for the Broncos to look for a returner as it stands. As long as Mims is healthy, he’ll hold down the fort, and Tremon Smith will back him up for the foreseeable future.
Special Teams Unit Score – 2
I do think Sean Payton is looking at ways to improve this unit for 2025. He’s already signed a punter with a huge leg and has shaken up the coaching situation at special teams as well. To say this unit is perfect is not honest. There were some blocking troubles and in my mind, Mims fair caught far too many returns this past season.
The fact that we don’t have a returning punter as it stands is the biggest factor of this score. If Dixon was still under contract, they’d score a 5 in my mind. That isn’t the case today, so the team at least needs a punter going into 2025.
Defensive roster status overall
Special Teams roster status overall
- Special teams – 2