Broncos Special Teams Improved?

Spencer Larsen warms up during Team Camp.

Yep... However, I was looking for a Matt Prater highlight for this very blog, let's just say it didn't go well. The only thing I could find was a horrible shank that he had last year for Atlanta. I want to pull for Garrett Hartley (OU Rookie F.A.) to make it as our Kicker, he was nominated for the Lou Garza Award (best college Kicker), but despite having the best statistics he did not win. Hey, if Jason Elam made it in Denver and he was from Hawaii, why not Hartley from Oklahoma?

A lot of our free agent/draft signees, I cannot see contributing anywhere else other than special teams. Look at Spencer Larsen or Wesley Woodyard. Those guys are here to bust some heads on Kickoffs and Punts. Obviously there's Eddie Royal, there's also Anthony Aldridge who should contribute on Kickoffs, as well as Jack Williams who could as well. Hell, maybe even Peyton Hillis will be out there (everyone knows the story of how Terrell Davis got noticed) cracking skulls as he chases down an opposing team's Punt Returner and blocking on Kickoffs.

Also, there's Defensive Tackle Josh Mallard challenging Mike Leech as the Long Snapper on Punts. If you watch the Chicago game, which many people did, because it was just on NFL Network last week, in both Touchdown returns Leech missed tackles on Hester very early on. If he could have simply got in the way, maybe we win that game and we're 8-8 instead of 7-9. Which at a certain point in the playoff hunt would have gotten us in.

Anyway, looking forward to see the new Special Teams this season, a little worried about the Kicker and the Punting situation... Even before Jason Elam left, I love him, but it was his time to ride off into the sunset. Our Punting may not have been great before we cut Todd Sauerbrun, but it was scary after.