DENVER — As so often happens in the National Football League, a team signs a free agent that performed well against them.
That was not the case for Riley Dixon. He never attempted a punt in the Rams' 51-14 thrashing of the Broncos on Christmas Day, a watershed moment of fighting and incompetence that led CEO Greg Penner to hire coach Sean Payton.
In case you were wondering, Payton did not come out of retirement to lose. He continued his massive makeover of the roster on Tuesday, signing Dixon. Denver has signed 12 free agents over the past week, including nine external players.
The Broncos drafted Dixon in the seventh round in 2016. He made the NFL All-Rookie Team. However, the Broncos traded him to the Giants after his second season. The Broncos have struggled with special teams issues since winning Super Bowl 50.
They are on their fifth special teams coordinator since the 2015 season, hiring Ben Kotwica this offseason and bringing in Mike Westhoff as an assistant head coach.
The Broncos ranked 13th in last season with an average of 42 net punt yards, 17th in gross (46.6) and 20th in punt return average against (8.3).
Dixon averaged a career-high 48.8 yards per punt and 41.7 net last season, the latter sitting near his eight-year average of 41.2 Last season, Denver moved on from veteran Sam Martin to Corliss Waitman with mixed results. He led the NFL with 96 punts, and delivered in multiple weeks, but also struggled with consistent hang time, compromising coverage units. Waitman placed 31.3 percent of his punts inside the 20 last season. Dixon has a career average of 33.4 percent inside the 20 and a high of 43.1 percent in 2020.
Last week, the Broncos added cornerback and special teams ace Tremon Smith to upgrade kickoff returns.
