Denver Broncos: Why Riley Dixon’s Success Matters
By Andrew Wade
This offseason, Elway signed Marquette King and subsequently traded Riley Dixon. Why does Dixon’s success matter to the Denver Broncos?
In a surprising and bold move this offseason, John Elway landed the incredibly talented Marquette King. This spelled the end of young Riley Dixon’s tenure in the Mile High City.
The Denver Broncos quickly shipped Dixon to the New York Giants for a conditional seventh-round draft pick.
Although Dixon is now punting for the New York Giants, all Denver Broncos fans should be rooting for his success in the immediate future.
If Dixon performs well enough to keep his job with the Giants, this will result in a future seventh-round draft pick being sent to the Denver Broncos. Even though seventh-round draft choices are not highly valuable trade chips, it still presents an opportunity for Denver to snag a player they covet late in the draft or use as trade bait to move up earlier in the draft.
Former Seventh Round Picks
Despite John Elway being often mocked for his lack of draft success in early rounds, he has done a fantastic job of finding quality players late in the draft, including the seventh round.
Current fan favorite quarterback Chad Kelly was Mr. Irrelevant of the 2017 NFL Draft and is now the number two backup behind Case Keenum. Depending on how Kelly develops over the next two years behind Keenum, there is a chance we could see Kelly take over as the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos.
Although unlikely, Kelly possesses the talent of a high-round draft pick but was plagued by injuries and character concerns leading to his drop in the draft.
Last year’s starting quarterback Trevor Siemian was also a former seventh-round draft pick out of Northwestern. Much to the dissent of Denver Bronco fans everywhere, Siemian was an incredible find that late in the draft.
His record in Denver was a 13-11 which is better win percentage than many of today’s starting quarterbacks including our starting quarterback, Case Keenum.
Other seventh round gems include former reserve linebacker Corey Nelson who signed with the Eagles this offseason. Additionally, former starting tight end Virgil Green who signed with the Chargers after a seven-year stint in Denver was also a seventh-round draft pick.
Here’s a post highlighting some other late-round gems Elway has unearthed since 2011.
Riley’s Success Matters
Dixon never lit the world on fire with his punting skills, but he was an average punter in his time in Denver. In fact, it’s kind of impressive Elway managed to get a conditional seventh-rounder out of a guy who was definitely getting released if no trade partner was found. Elway deserves the credit for cultivating a market for a punter of Dixon’s skill set.
As it stands right now, Dixon is the only punter currently on New York’s roster. That could quickly change if things take a turn for the worse. Much like bottom-tier kickers, bottom-tier punters are a dime a dozen. If Dixon has a few bad punts or a few bad games to round out the preseason, the Giants are likely to bring in a few punters for a tryout.
So far the results have been iffy. In a 20-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns, Dixon saw a lot of action. He had the opportunity to punt the ball ten times throughout the game. He averaged 44 yards per punt including a long of 62 yards.
For perspective, last year’s Giants ranked 24th in the league in average punt at 44.1 yards.
Dixon’s game average would have placed him at 28th in team statistics in 2017. Luckily, it was just one game and it wasn’t completely terrible. Furthermore, Dixon led the Broncos to a 14th overall ranking in punting average last year, so things are likely to improve as he gets comfortable with a new long snapper and team.
Next. Veteran QBs the Broncos could target. dark
Even though I am more than excited to watch King continue booming the ball in Mile High as he did Saturday night, I will be keeping an eye on Dixon over the coming weeks. If he keeps his roster spot, Elway will have turned the former seventh-rounder into future seventh-rounder that could make a huge impact on the Broncos roster in years to come.