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Riley Dixon

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.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/18/20

November 18th, 2020 at 5:20pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Activated from IR: OL Phil Haynes
  • Placed on IR: CB Neiko Thorpe

Tennessee Titans

Giants, P Riley Dixon Agree To Extension

December 8th, 2019 at 8:49am CST by Rory Parks

The Giants have agreed to a three-year, $8.7MM extension with punter Riley Dixon, as Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). Dixon has averaged 47 yards per punt in 2019 — sixth-best in the NFL and a career-high for Dixon — and he may be the most consistent player on New York’s roster this year.

The Broncos drafted Dixon in the seventh round of the 2016 draft, and he served as Denver’s punter from 2016-17 before New York acquired him for a conditional seventh-rounder in April 2018 (the Broncos had recently signed Marquette King, which made Dixon expendable). Other teams were interested in Dixon, who won the Giants’ punting job in 2018 and who was eligible for unrestricted free agency this offseason.

The $2.9MM average annual value on Dixon’s new deal doesn’t make him the highest-paid punter in the game, but it does put him in the top-five. His extension is one order of business for the Giants to scratch off their list in advance of what should be an intriguing offseason.

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