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Riley Dixon

Dolphins Sign P Ryan Stonehouse; Broncos Did Not Have Interest

March 16th, 2025 at 10:05am CST by Rory Parks

The Dolphins are signing former Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse, as first reported by Justin Melo of The Draft Network and subsequently confirmed by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques adds that it will be a one-year deal). Tennessee recently declined to extend an RFA tender to Stonehouse, thus sending him to the open market.

Melo classifies the Titans’ Stonehouse decision as curious, and indeed, the former undrafted find had established himself as an under-the-radar weapon over his first three seasons in the league. In his rookie year in 2022, the Colorado State product broke Sammy Baugh‘s long-standing single-season punting average mark, moving the NFL’s standard from 51.4 yards per boot (set in 1940) to 53.1. Stonehouse matched that average in 2023, though that season ended a few games early due to a torn ACL and MCL — along with a broken bone — in his plant (non-kicking) leg.

Nonetheless, Stonehouse recovered in time to handle a full slate of punting duties in 2024, and he still managed over 50 yards per kick. On the other hand, his net yards-per-punt average dropped from 44.3 in 2023 to 38.3 last year, and he pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard line just 22 times in 2024 compared to 28 times in 2023, despite receiving 20 more opportunities.

The Titans elected to move on from the 25-year-old Stonehouse and bring in the 35-year-old Johnny Hekker as his replacement. Hekker, the NFL’s most-decorated active punter, has four First Team All-Pro nods to his credit, though the most recent of those accolades came in 2017.

Miami hopes that, with Stonehouse’s injury further in the rearview mirror, he can return to the elite form he displayed from 2022-23. Interestingly, the ‘Fins recently hired Craig Aukerman, who coordinated the Titans’ special teams units from 2018-23, as their own ST coordinator.

Aukerman can certainly take some of the credit for Stonehouse’s early-career success, though it was the Week 13 game in 2023 in which Stonehouse was injured — an injury that occurred on the second blocked punt of the contest — that triggered Aukerman’s in-season dismissal. The 48-year-old did not coach in 2024.

Jake Bailey has served as the Dolphins’ punter in each of the past two seasons, and he is under club control through 2025 by virtue of the two-year, $4.2MM contract he signed last March. The club can save nearly $2MM against the cap with a dead money hit of just $550K if it releases Bailey, which Jackson suggests will happen at some point.

The Broncos are in need of a new punter after Riley Dixon agreed to sign with the Bucs, but they did not have interest in Stonehouse, per Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette. The team likewise is not presently interested in free agent specialists Pat O’Donnell and Michael Palardy.

Denver did extend an offer to Dixon, as Mike Klis of 9News reports. Clearly, it was not enough to keep him on the club.

Buccaneers To Sign P Riley Dixon

March 11th, 2025 at 3:48pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Buccaneers are signing former Broncos punter Riley Dixon to a two-year deal worth $6MM, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Dixon’s $3MM APY is tied for third-highest among all punters. After rotating between three punters in 2024, Tampa Bay was willing to pay up for some stability on special teams.

Originally a Broncos seventh-round pick in 2016, Dixon spent two years in Denver before being traded to the Giants for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2018. He signed an extension in New York to become one of the league’s highest-paid punters in 2019, but was released in 2022, a year before his contract expired. He then signed with the Rams for the 2022 season before returning to Denver for the last two seasons.

Dixon has never been one of the NFL’s best punters, but he’s never been one of the worst, either. He’s a consistent, reliable player who has hovered around the league average in yards per punt, touchback percentage, and percentage of punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

Dixon will bring that consistency to Tampa Bay in 2025, leaving Denver to find another punter this offseason. A number of options are available in free agency, though most are well into their 30s. The Broncos may look for a younger, cheaper addition through the draft.

Broncos To Waive P Trenton Gill

August 26th, 2024 at 2:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

Trenton Gill impressed in the Broncos’ punter-friendly confines, but he did not do enough to win the team’s punting competition. Riley Dixon has prevailed, which will lead to a roster move.

Denver is waiving Gill, according to 9News’ Mike Klis. The Broncos become the second team this year to cut Gill. The Bears did so after drafting Tory Taylor in the fourth round.

The Bears’ punter from 2022-23, Gill fared well during the preseason. He led the NFL with a 53.6-yard preseason average, but the Broncos will hold onto Dixon’s two-year contract. Dixon did not have any guarantees remaining on his deal; it would have cost the Broncos only $300K to release the more experienced option.

Dixon, who turned 31 on Saturday, was part of the Broncos’ 2016 draft class but was eventually traded to the Giants to clear a spot for Marquette King. The King deal did not lead to a long-term partnership, and the Broncos could not settle on a punter in the years that followed. Dixon punted for the Giants for four years and then served as the Rams’ punter in 2022, eventually coming back to Denver during Sean Payton‘s first season at the helm.

Gill averaged more than 46 yards per punt in each of his two Bears seasons; Dixon came in at 46.3 last season. Gill placed 26.3% of his punts inside the 20-yard line last year, while Dixon’s inside-the-20 number checked in at 34.2%. Gill is not yet a vested veteran, so a team considering a punter move could look to the former Chicago seventh-round pick via waivers.

Patriots Sign P Corliss Waitman

March 23rd, 2023 at 8:10pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Patriots have found their new punter shortly after moving on from a four-year contributor at the position. New England has signed Corliss Waitman, per a team announcement.

New England waived incumbent Jake Bailey earlier this month in a move which came as no surprise. Michael Palardy, who was used as Bailey’s replacement when he was injured during the year, is a pending free agent. That left the Patriots in search of a new option, and they have landed on Waitman.

The 27-year-old Belgian spent time on New England’s practice squad in 2021 before joining the Steelers. His first full season of NFL duty came in 2022 with the Broncos. Given Denver’s offensive struggles, Waitman was the busiest punter in the league, being called into action a league-leading 96 times last season. He averaged 46.6 yards per punt, and pinned 30 of his kicks inside the 20 yard line.

The Broncos decided to reunite with Riley Dixon earlier this week, however, which allowed them to move on from Waitman. The latter had been tendered as an exclusive rights free agent, but with Dixon back in the fold, that was rescinded. Waitman’s latest spell in free agency did not last long.

A left-footed punter, the South Alabama product falls in line with head coach Bill Belichick‘s preference in that regard. Now, with a new deal in place and Joe Judge set to once again coach the Patriots’ special teams, Waitman will look to repeat his 2022 performance and help the unit deliver a bounce-back performances from last year’s struggles.

Broncos Sign P Riley Dixon

March 21st, 2023 at 5:26pm CST by Ben Levine

Riley Dixon is back in Denver. The Broncos announced that they’ve signed the free agent punter. Troy Renck of Denver7 tweets that Dixon will be getting a two-year deal.

Dixon was a seventh-round pick by the Broncos back in 2016 and would go on to earn PFWA All-Rookie Team honors. He spent two years in Denver before getting traded to the Giants, where he’d spend four seasons. Dixon landed more than 42 percent of his punts inside the 20 between the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but after averaging a career-low 44.4 yards per punt in 2021, he was let go.

He caught on with the Rams for 2022 and saw a significant improvement on his average, boosting his yards per punt to a career-high 48.4 yards. If Dixon can continue performing to his standard career levels, he’ll be able to outperform incumbent Corliss Waitman.

The former UDFA averaged 46.6 yards per punt and landed 31.3 percent of his punts inside the 20 last year in Denver. Waitman was tendered as an exclusive rights free agent after the season, but Renck notes that the offer has since been withdrawn.

NFC West Rumors: Hopkins, Brunskill, Seahawks, Rams

August 12th, 2022 at 10:15pm CST by Ely Allen

While there was some contention in regards to the six-game suspension handed down to Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, the NFLPA considers his case a closed issue, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. There was a sliver of hope that the ban may be reduced from six to four games, and Hopkins still believes there may be, but it seems all but certain that he will be out for all six.

With Hopkins out, Arizona’s receiving room will be led by trade acquisition Marquise Brown, veteran A.J. Green, and second-year player Rondale Moore. The depth gets pretty thin behind those three with Andy Isabella, Antoine Wesley, and Greg Dortch on the roster, among a few others. The Cardinals also shopped Isabella earlier this year.

Here are a few other rumors from around the NFC West, starting with a note out of the Bay Area:

Rams Sign P Riley Dixon

April 5th, 2022 at 3:14pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Rams parted ways with one of the most decorated special-teamers in NFL history this offseason, cutting Johnny Hekker. They have tabbed a replacement for the four-time All-Pro.

Former Broncos and Giants punter Riley Dixon agreed to terms with the Rams on Tuesday, according to a team announcement. It is a one-year deal, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Dixon is a six-year veteran who has not missed a game since entering the NFL as a seventh-round pick in 2016.

Dixon surfaced this offseason as one of the cuts made by the Giants’ new regime. He punted in New York for the past four seasons, signing an extension to stay on with Big Blue. The Giants released Dixon five days before the Rams axed Hekker. The latter has since made his way to the Panthers, while Dixon will receive an opportunity with a third NFL team. The Broncos traded Dixon to the Giants in 2018.

Dixon, 28, averaged just more than 44 yards per punt in his final two Giants seasons. Despite beginning his career with two seasons in Denver’s thin air, Dixon posted his best average in New Jersey’s less friendly punting environment. He notched a 46.1-yard average in 2019. Hekker was attached to a high salary (on the punter spectrum) and finished with a 44.2-yard average last season.

Giants’ Kyle Rudolph, Riley Dixon Rework Deals

December 21st, 2021 at 9:24am CST by Zachary Links

The Giants have a little extra spending money, just in time for Christmas. On Tuesday, the G-Men reworked the contacts of tight end Kyle Rudolph and punter Riley Dixon to create ~$350K in cap room (Twitter link via Field Yates of ESPN.com).

[RELATED: Giants’ Jones Done For Year]

The Giants won’t be making any marquee signings over the next few weeks — after all, they’re 4-10 on the year after taking their third straight loss on Sunday — but they will need to make a few minor moves like signing players to the practice squad and doling out roster bonuses.

Injuries have piled up for the Giants in recent weeks. Just yesterday, they opted to shut down quarterback Daniel Jones for the rest of the year, allowing him to fully heal from his neck injury. They also lost Sterling Shepard for the year with an Achilles tear — just the latest in an unfortunate string of setbacks for the wide receiver.

Rudolph, 32, has 22 catches for 240 yards and one touchdown so far this year. He remains under contract for 2022, thanks to his two-year, $12MM deal, but it’s not a given that he’ll return. The Giants could theoretically cut the veteran to save $5MM against just $2.25MM in dead money.

Dixon, 29 in August, also has one year to go on his contract with a similar split. His release would save $3.25MM versus $125K in dead money. The Giants’ next GM may prefer to go cheaper, rather than roster the league’s fourth-highest paid punter.

NFL Workouts: Giants, WFT, Foreman

September 20th, 2021 at 3:55pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s a look at some of today’s more notable auditions, courtesy of NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (Twitter link):

  • The Giants worked out punters J.K. Scott, Kaare Vedvik, and Brandon Wright. For now, that job is held by Riley Dixon, though the Giants could just be keeping their emergency list up to date. Dixon, a former draft pick of Denver, is under contract through 2022 thanks to his three-year, $8.7MM deal.
  • The Washington Football Team auditioned running backs D’Onta Foreman and Ryquell Armstead. Foreman, recently released from Atlanta’s practice squad, also showed his stuff for the Raiders earlier this month. Foreman is best known for his rookie year with the Texans but hasn’t been the same since tearing his Achilles midway through that season.
  • The Packers are meeting with defensive ends Taco Charlton and R.J. McIntosh. Charlton, once a highly-touted first-round pick of the Cowboys, flamed out quickly in Dallas. His best work to date came with the Dolphins when he notched five sacks in ten games. Still, he had a decent 2020 with the Chiefs, up until his November leg fracture. In that shortened KC run, Charlton recorded two sacks, four quarterback hits, and a forced fumble.
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