When he took over as the Denver Broncos’ new head coach last year, Sean Payton immediately made improving special teams one of his top priorities.
Payton brought in a new special teams coordinator (Ben Kotwica), a new assistant head coach with an extensive special teams background (Mike Westhoff) and a just-retired safety as a special teams assistant (Chris Banjo).
After completely reshaping the staff, Payton brought in a new kicker, a new punter and new returners. He even made a change at long snapper.
The result of those changes? Denver’s special teams units improved from being ranked 25th by Rick Gosselin in 2022 to 7th in 2023.
Gosselin sorts 22 kicking-game categories and assigns points to each team according to its standing (one for best, 32 for worst). The Broncos totaled 302 points this season, a notable improvement from 433.5 last year (fewer points equates to a better score).
The Broncos had the fifth-best special teams score in the AFC and the seventh-best in the NFL overall. There’s still room for improvement, but special teams took a huge step forward in Payton’s first season.
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