Five days into the Denver Broncos’ 2015 training camp and there are competitions all over the practice fields in Dove Valley. That includes at kicker, where the team has Connor Barth as the team’s main placekicker while Brandon McManus handles the kickoffs.
Then, there’s Britton Colquitt, who punts, and Aaron Brewer, the long snapper. Four specialists is one more than most teams carry on their final, 53-man roster. The Broncos possibly wish McManus would win the kicking job, so they have only one kicker instead of two, which would open up the roster spot for another player at a skill position.
But, Barth, the team’s kicker for the last five weeks of 2014, isn’t deterred by the competition at his position.
“I think competition is healthy,” he said Tuesday after practice. “That’s when you get complacent, when you don’t have someone pushing you. Brandon and I are great friends on and off the field. We wish the best for both of each other. We’re both great kickers and no matter what happens, I can’t imagine that both of us aren’t kicking somewhere.
“In the end, you’re really competing with yourself,” he continued.
It’s all about consistent improvement for Barth, who’s now eight years removed from kicking at North Carolina, as he looks to be a full-time starter for the first time since 2012 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“First week, getting back into it, putting the pads on,” Barth said of the start to training camp. “Finding my swing…definitely today was a good day for me, 100 percent. And kicked off well.
“So, what you want to do is, you don’t want to get stagnant. Keep improving every week,” Barth continued. “And, my goal going into my seventh camp now, the first week, you’re getting the kinks out and you want to build and build so at the end of the preseason you’re at the peak of your conditioning and peak performance with your kicking. That’s what practice is for, so it’s gone well this week. I’ve [only] missed two, so you like to be 100 percent but, obviously I’d rather miss in practice than in the games.”
With Denver to end last season, Barth went 15-16 on field goals, including multiple kicks over 45 yards and one from 50 yards out. He also made all 15 extra point attempts. He’s proven that accuracy, especially last year, connecting on a career-high 93.8 percent of his field goals. How’d he do it? Teamwork.
“Like I’ve always said, Britton and Brewer do such a good job for me that it makes the job easy on me,” he said of his snapper and holder. “Having that kind of fluidity and two great pros like that already in here makes it easy on me. Not looking back on last year but we’re just kind of feeding off what happened. It’s nice to have the same guys again.”
For Barth, the full mustache he’s sporting in camp wasn’t the only thing notable about his appearance. On Tuesday, Barth resembled former Broncos kicker Rich Karlis, who booted balls off his barefoot from 1982-88. Yes, the current Denver kicker’s lighter-colored, smaller shoe on his kicking foot almost looked like a bare foot from the sidelines.
“It’s a soccer shoe on my right foot and then, with the way the fields are, I wear a regular wide receiver cleat for my plant foot just for traction,” he explained. “I don’t wear different colors for any reason, it just kind of fell into place.”
Take note of his two different cleats if you make it out to Dove Valley for camp. If you do, you’ll also notice his smooth swing, the way the ball rotates freely with a high arc through the uprights a majority of the time.
And expect to see much more of him when the regular season rolls around; he will almost certainly be the Broncos placekicker on Sept. 13 when the Baltimore Ravens come to the Mile High City.
