Broncos pick surprise candidate as their new kicker for 2023

The Denver Broncos made the surprising decision last week to cut kicker Brandon McManus, the last remaining member of the Super Bowl 50 team. After cutting McManus, they held tryouts for a handful of players, including former Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher, who made 90.6 percent of his kicks last season and 9-of-11 from 50-plus yards. It wasn't Maher who won the kicking competition in Denver, though. It was former South Carolina Gamecock Elliott Fry.

Multiple reports indicate that Fry is set to be the kicker for the Denver Broncos this year on a one-year deal. The news was first reported by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network:

The Broncos reportedly had three players in for a competition for this roster spot last week, including Fry, Maher, and Parker White. Out of the three, Maher had the most NFL experience, although many fans in Broncos Country were not the biggest fans of the idea of Maher because of how badly he struggled with extra points in the playoffs last season.

The fact that the Broncos didn't sign Maher, despite his playoff struggles, can be considered a rather huge upset anyway. Maher not only kicked well last season, but he has also kicked for Sean Payton in recent years. He was on the Saints' roster in 2021 along with a number of other current members of the Denver Broncos roster.

Elliott Fry, however, has been bouncing all over the NFL and other professional leagues as well. The Denver Broncos will officially be his 11th NFL team, and his 12th professional team in total. He has played in three career NFL games and made four of five field goal attempts, all of which were inside of 50 yards.

Fry last kicked in actual NFL games for the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs, so he's obviously shown enough in workouts to kick in real games for some of the best teams in the league.

For the time being, this is the kicker move the Broncos are making. This is a position where anything can change between now and the start of the regular season, but for now, Elliott Fry is set to be the Denver Broncos' kicker in 2023.

The special teams unit has officially been revamped completely in the 2023 offseason. The Broncos let go of both kicking specialists by letting Brandon McManus go and non-tendering punter Corliss Waitman. They also let Jacob Bobenmoyer go and are replacing him with Mitchell Fraboni, who spent some time with the season last year as well.

If you want to dive even deeper into special teams changes, Tremon Smith was added under the assumption he would not only play on coverage units but also potentially return kickoffs. They also drafted Marvin Mims in the second round, and Sean Payton stated that they felt he was one of the two best punt returners in this year's rookie class.

On top of it all are the additions of special teams coaching legend Mike Westhoff to the staff, as well as new special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica. It's safe to say the special teams unit was an area Sean Payton wanted to completely overhaul.