Recapping every move the Denver Broncos made in NFL Free Agency

Denver Broncos free agency recap: Updating special teams

Tremon Smith, CB/KR

Getting better on special teams was undoubtedly mandatory for this new coaching staff, which got a significant facelift in the coaching department first and foremost. Former special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes was replaced by Ben Kotwica on this Sean Payton staff, along with assistant head coach Mike Westhoff, a special teams coaching legend. The Broncos certainly have the people in place to coach up the special teams, but what about the personnel?

Well, Tremon Smith was one of the team's top priorities in free agency and for good reason. He's been a tremendous kickoff returner and played 78 percent of the Texans' special teams snaps over the last year in total. He also saw his biggest uptick in defensive snaps last year and had a couple of interceptions, four passes defensed, and a whopping three forced fumbles.

This is a guy who brings tons of speed to the table and can really make an impact on special teams, both in the return game as the returner himself but also affecting the opposing return man by jarring the ball loose.

Riley Dixon, P

Here's a reunion you maybe didn't see coming. The Denver Broncos originally drafted Riley Dixon out of Syracuse in 2016 but traded him a couple of years later in favor of Marquette King. We all saw how that worked out...

Dixon has punted for the Giants and Rams since and he's coming off of his best overall year at over 48 yards per punt. Unfortunately, through the years, Dixon has had a lot of kicks blocked. Seven in his career, to be exact. Another unfortunate statistic is that Dixon had less than 27 percent of his punts last year inside the 20. That can be due to a lot of things -- maybe your offense is not setting you up to actually make that happen.

Whatever the circumstances, the pro scouting department and coaching staff obviously felt like Dixon was an upgrade over Corliss Waitman.