Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
The Denver Broncos play half their games in the Mile High City. Then why do they keep committed to a punter who can’t get it done?
Anyone who watches the Denver Broncos play every week knows without a doubt that Colby Wadman has not been consistent. From a pure punting perspective, he has been one of the worst in the NFL.
Currently, Wadman ranks second to last in the NFL with a net average of 38.4 and that is with half of his games coming at altitude. Yet, they remain committed to Wadman and have not even had any consideration of bringing in another punter off the street to compete.
Special Teams Coordinator Tom McMahon was asked about Wadman struggles and didn’t really offer much encouraging news.
On if he can help P Colby Wadman correct mistakes such as the 13-yard punt against the Bills
“Yeah, that’s on me. I can help him with it. It’s getting in that situation. You punted 56 yards into the wind, 55 yards into the wind and then you have the wind to his back and he thought the wind was going to punt the ball for him. That’s one of those things where mentally all of the sudden think things got to change and they don’t change. You have to be consistent. That’s the biggest thing. Like I said last week, we’ve got to be more consistent. It was one of those deals, in my opinion, where you get a relief. You’ve got a 23-mile per hour head wind and all of the sudden the wind is at your back. You have to just go punt the football.”
On if he’s seen what he wants to see from Wadman to get better results
“I’ve seen it in spots. There’re times I’ve seen it and there’re other times where it goes back to the old—when things get going in the game. That’s what young players do, they’ve got to just focus on that little thing that they can control and all of the stuff that’s out of their control, they can’t worry about situations that we’re in in a game. Scores and this and that and the other. I think he’s coming along ways. You’ve got a guy backed up at the 2-yard line like he did last week and punts the ball 56 yards at 4.9 [hangtime]. He’s starting to make strides, but the very next punt, he shanks when he’s got some room to breathe, which is something we can’t have.”
The Broncos have had issues with punting for two straight seasons now with Marquette King being demoted last year and Wadman assuming the starting role. King was supportive of Wadman and went so far as to suggest the real issue here is coaching.
Honestly Wadman is a good punter and he is just doin what he’s told. Similar to my situation there. It’s hard to be consistent when you’re asked to change a technique that has created success for you and it mentally takes a toll. Keep supporting Wadman #BroncoCountry #Kicksquad https://t.co/kMRoymdAlL
— Marquette King (@MarquetteKing) November 17, 2019
At this point, I am inclined to agree more with King than McMahon. If Wadman’s struggles are due to McMahon trying to change how punters punt the ball in games, then I could see that leading to the kind of inconsistency we’ve seen out of Wadman so far.
He has those booming - WOW - kind of kicks that leaves you wondering why this kid can’t do it like that all the time, but then he’ll shank one for 13 yards that just leaves you annoyed or outright angry. The special teams unit has not been impressive this year anyway, so it would seem that if anyone’s job should be in danger it should be McMahon’s.
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