Britton Colquitt was one of the most important offensive players for the Denver Broncos last year believe it or not. He was in the top 10 for number of punts last year and in some cases won the game by flipping the field for the Denver defense. But with a total cap hit of $4 million, he’s an expensive commodity in the special teams unit. Especially for a team trying to scrape together every dollar it can to pay Von Miller.
In April, the Broncos drafted another punter, Riley Dixon out of Syracuse. When NFL teams draft a kicker or a punter they are usually guaranteed a roster spot, so what does that mean for Colquitt?
“Britton Colquitt has to out-perform the seventh round draft pick Riley Dixon,” said Les Shapiro who was joined by Colquitt’s former teammate Tyler Polumbus on Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7. “When you draft a punter or a kicker that means they are going to get every chance to win the job.”
Dixon was selected second team All-ACC in 2015 by the coaches but was selected to the first team by the media. He had 88 fair catches over the past three years and showed off his big leg by regularly punting balls over 50 yards. He was a YouTube sensation after hurdling over a defender in a game during a fake punt against LSU. This kid is no joke.
Drafting Dixon could also be a money game for the Broncos to try and get Colquitt to take a pay cut to free up some money to sign big players like Von Miller.
“Don’t discount Britton’s salary and why they drafted a punter,” said Polumbus. “It could be a huge leverage game, it could just be a power play. Look, you gotta take a cut or you’re out of here.”
Colquitt took a $1.4 million pay cut last year, so to cut his pay again seems like something that Colquitt will not agree with. Collquit is set to make $3.25 million, with dead cap money of $750,000 from a signing bonus, here is the last year of his contract. In 2013 he signed a three-year, $11.7 million deal, which made him one of the highest paid punters in the league. He’ll be competing with one of the lowest paid punters in Dixon, a rookie seventh-round pick.
Having two punters on an NFL roster is unheard of, so it looks like either Dixon or Colquitt will be scrambling for a job in the upcoming season.
Listening to the full conversation in the podcast below…
Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro every Monday through Friday from 4-6 p.m. on Mile High Sports AM 1340 or stream live any time for the best coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
