After months of mulling it over, the Denver Broncos have reportedly signed veteran kicker Brett Maher. NFL insider Aaron Wilson broke the news.
"[The] have agreed to terms with veteran kicker Brett Maher per a league source," Wilson tweeted on Friday.
The news was confirmed by a definitive source closer to home.
"Source confirms Broncos have reached 1-year agreement with kicker Brett Maher. He kicked for Sean Payton with Saints in 2021. Had great season with Cowboys last year until extra-point yips in playoffs. Had minicamp tryout with Broncos in mid-June," 9NEWS' Mike Klis tweeted.
Maher's original tryout with the Broncos was reported immediately on the heels of Brandon McManus being released. Maher's NFL resume offers a bigger sample size to lean on, compared to the other kicker Denver has signed since releasing McManus, Elliott Fry.
Fry has kicked in exactly three NFL games, while Maher has 54 regular-season appearances, with 94 career field goals. Maher also has a past connection to Sean Payton during their time together in 2021 with the New Orleans Saints.
However, Maher isn't exactly reliable. He exited Dallas in a cloud of controversy.
Kicking for the Dallas Cowboys, Maher missed a whopping four extra-point attempts in the team's Wildcard playoff game vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past January, becoming the first kicker to miss that number of PATs in a regular-season or postseason game since the NFL began tracking that stat in 1932.
It remains to be seen whether the Maher move is a net positive. Payton has a history of taking kicker competitions down to the wire, and, in some cases, not resolving them out of training camp.
However the kicker competition plays out, the Broncos will be opening the 2023 campaign with an entirely new trio of specialists than what the team started last season with. There will be a new kicker, plus punter Riley Dixon, and long-snapper Michael Fabroni.
Maher vs. Fry kicks off next week when Broncos open training camp on July 28.
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