The art of punting, Broncos special teams coach Darren Rizzi has often said, is much like golfing. You can have the talent. You can have the swing. But once you step in the tee box, you need to produce.
Jeremy Crawshaw has had days at Dove Valley when he’s consistently landed on the green. And he’s had days spent trapped in the rough.
The rookie punter, who’s held the Broncos’ starting job from the second he was drafted in April, has a powerful right leg. That much is clear. What’s less clear is the angles he’s firing. He’s been all across the map in Denver’s first two preseason games: a 61-yard bomb against Arizona last week, a 25-yard head-scratcher the week before against San Francisco.
“It’s kinda — getting into rhythm, getting in a groove, fixing the things we gotta fix,” Rizzi said of Crawshaw on Wednesday. “But, I mean, again, I’m happy where he’s at. Hopefully, he’ll get a couple more opportunities — not too many — this week. And we’ll just keep going with the progression.”
The most important piece in Crawshaw’s development is consistency. Denver hasn’t had a punter finish above the league average in yards per punt since 2021. A team that now has Super Bowl aspirations can’t afford to lose games on special teams.
Still, Rizzi said the Broncos aren’t looking to bring in any names before the start of the year to compete with Crawshaw.
“I think he’s in a good spot,” Rizzi said. “I like where he’s at.”
The Broncos felt Crawshaw was the best punter in this year’s draft and took the Australian in the sixth round as the only punter drafted in April. The production is there. He led the SEC in yards per punt in 2022 and 2023 at Florida. Former Saints punter Thomas Morstead even told Sean Payton’s crew that they’d gotten a “good one” in Crawshaw, as Payton recounted.
Denver just needs to see Crawshaw stay under par heading into Week 1 against Tennessee.
“He’s got a bright future,” Payton said Aug. 12.
Broncos sign veteran DT. After working out a slew of defensive tackles Tuesday, the Broncos signed NFL vet Michael Dwumfour and waived rookie inside linebacker JB Brown, the team announced Wednesday.
Denver needs an extra body on the defensive line for Saturday’s preseason tilt with New Orleans. The starters will play only a handful of snaps, and rookie Kristian Williams has been sidelined the past two days. Dwumfour has played 13 games over parts of the past four seasons with Houston, San Francisco and Cleveland, and should see a few reps against the Saints.
Brown has been with the Broncos since signing as a preferred free agent after the draft in April. Michigan State product Jordan Turner and Utah’s Karene Reid have each flashed upside throughout camp, giving the Broncos room to shave at inside linebacker.
The fullback (Ap)Prentice? It’s fairly unlikely that new signee and former CSU Ram Adam Prentice makes the Broncos’ 53-man roster. Starting fullback Michael Burton didn’t even crack the initial roster last year and wound up playing 17 games. But Burton’s status remains a mystery amid a lingering hamstring injury, and fullback hybrid Nate Adkins has no recovery timeline after an ankle sprain.
Prentice, then, has become a fairly important piece across the next couple of weeks as a buffer to execute some run-game schemes. Rizzi heaped praise on the fullback, who spent the 2024 season with him in New Orleans.
“I really watched Adam improve in a lot of ways over the course of time that he was with the Saints,” Rizzi said. “He was kinda — had to change his body a little bit, lose some weight. And I’ll tell ya what, he really had a really nice year, I thought, for us, both offensively and special teams-wise. So I’m really happy we have him. He’s an A-plus guy, tangible-wise, off the field.”
Injury updates. Cornerback Damarri Mathis was back at practice after a Tuesday absence, but he and injured cornerback Reese Taylor both spent a majority of the practice on a side field. Running back Jaleel McLaughlin also wasn’t present Wednesday.
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