“What did you guys see in [P] Riley Dixon that led you to drafting him?” One reporter asked of John Elway and Gary Kubiak just minutes after the Broncos drafted Dixon in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
“He’s a good punter,” Kubiak responded with a laugh and no conviction. “Let me bring [Special Teams Coordinator] Joe [DeCamillis] down here.”
“He’s got great lift,” added Elway with a laugh of his own. “Points his toe.”
The head honchos had no problem admitting that they aren’t exactly punting experts. It was good for a laugh then and it also shows the complete trust they have in their scouts as well as DeCamillis, a man that has nearly 30 years of experience coaching special teams in the NFL.
On Thursday, the Broncos special teams coordinator met with media and finally got to answer the question posed to Elway and Kubiak nearly a month ago.
“We had some real good inside information because [Special Teams Coaching Assistant] Chris Gould was with him at Syracuse,” DeCamillis said of what they saw in Dixon. “We knew what kind of kid he was and how talented he was. Just watching the film, we felt like he was what we need to compete for that job. He’s got a chance to be an NFL punter. That’s kind of why we pulled the trigger where we did. I thought the scouting staff did a great job of getting him where we did. Hopefully, he has a chance to come in and compete.”
So what exactly do they look for on film when scouting a punter? The answer may be more simple than you think.
“The biggest thing that I like to look at is their athleticism and how they catch the ball because most everybody has good leg spring at that level,” he explained. “When they get to us and we’ve looked at them on tape, the real difference is a guy that can handle the ball and that can end up getting off quick enough to get the ball off and make sure there is not a block every time. That’s really what you’re looking for, and a guy that’s athletic and can catch the ball well. Usually, those are the guys that have success.”
As the years have gone on, though, it has become tougher to scout college punters due to the influx in ‘rugby punts,’ when the punter rolls one way or the other and gets a bit of a running start into their kick. Even Dixon’s longest punt of his career (75 yards) came on a rugby-style punt.
The style only works in college because the rules allow for all players to start downfield on the snap, whereas in the NFL only the “gunners” or the two players lined up wide can go downfield before the ball is punted.
“It’s harder to find an NFL punter from college now,” explained DeCamillis. “It’s just because of all the stuff that they do. They have a sort of protection that they do that is way different than what we do because of the rules. They can get out much quicker. It is harder, but I think we did a good job of identifying a guy that comes in and competes for us.”
In the end, it’s all about competition.
“I think it’s just like any other position,” he told. “You look at C.J. [Anderson] and Ronnie Hillman is back, that’s competition. You’re trying to create that all over your team. If you had drafted [Dixon] in the first round, it probably would have been considered, hey, ‘It’s his job.’ But where it’s at right now, it’s a competition. No question.”
Anytime you use a draft pick on a special-teamer people are going to question that decision but DeCamillis put it into terms that may make the decision easier to understand.
“That’s a starter for you,” he told. “That’s the way you have to look at it. That guy is going to be there. You saw the effect that Britton [Colquitt] had on the games in the playoffs. That’s an important position. That’s how we look at it.”
If Dixon beats out the guy who made that big impact in the playoffs (and also has a base salary of $3.25 million this year) you’d have a hard time putting too much negativity on that decision.
