The Broncos may have added kicker Elliott Fry earlier this week, but that won’t stop the team from making more moves at the position. Sean Payton told reporters that the Broncos will still be on the lookout for available kickers (per Chris Tomasson of Denver Gazette on Twitter).
It’s not a huge surprise that the Broncos would continue to be in the market for kickers. The team moved on from veteran Brandon McManus this offseason, and they didn’t have a kicker on their roster until they added Fry this week.
Fry doesn’t have the resume of a kicker who should just be handed the job. The 28-year-old has only seen time in three career games with the Falcons, Bengals, and Chiefs, connecting on five of his field goal attempts and five of his seven extra-point tries. He didn’t get into a regular season game in 2022. When Fry auditioned for the Broncos last week, he was joined by fellow free agents Brett Maher and Parker White. That duo remains unsigned.
Assuming the Broncos do bring in someone to compete with Fry, Payton cautioned that a supposed kicking competition still might not have any reflection on the regular-season roster. The head coach pointed to “a kicking battle one year in New Orleans,” when the Saints ended up signing a free agent following final cuts instead of opting for either of the two kickers on their roster.
“Don’t pay attention to the line in front of you or the room you’re in,” Payton said (via Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post). “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.”
More must-reads: