Riley

Dixon

Dixon will head to Tampa after two seasons with the Broncos. The ninth-year veteran ranked tenth in net yards per punt last season and had one of the league’s lowest touchback rates at 6.5 percent. The Bucs by almost every measure were one of the NFL’s worst punting units in 2024. Dixon should be a big upgrade in 2025.

Dixon will head back to where it started for him in 2016 by reuniting with the Broncos. He spent the 2022 season with the Rams after four seasons with the Giants. Last season Riley averaged 48.4 yards per punt which was a career-high for him. He’ll compete with Corliss Waitman for the job.

A cap casualty with the Giants, Dixon is in line to replace fellow cap casualty Johnny Hekker in Los Angeles. The Giants finished 12th on punts in Football Outsiders’ DVOA rankings last year. It’s a fine replacement for the Rams.

The move clears $2.8 million in cap space for a team that is in legitimate cap hell despite having a quarterback on a rookie contract. One of the league’s better punters in 2019, Dixon didn’t take kindly to the Joe Judge years, falling to 21st in net-punting average (39.5 yards) last season. A Giants beat reporter tweeted Thursday that Dixon was the cause of many of Judge’s problems in 2021. This organization is down bad. 28-year-old Dixon won’t be guaranteed to win someone’s starting job in 2022.

This will fix everything.

It’s the first of Denver’s draft picks to sign. Dixon averaged 42.6 yards per punt during his college career and was a second-team all ACC pick last year. He should put pressure on Britton Colquitt in training camp.

Dixon wasn’t needed after Denver signed Marquette King. He averaged a middling 45.6 yards on punts last year with 32 percent inside the 20-yard line. Dixon replaces Brad Wing, who was released from the Giants this offseason.

Dixon (6'4/221) walked onto the Clemson football team and went on to finish third in Orange history in career punting average (42.62) and fifth in punting yards (9,291). He was a second-team All-ACC pick by the conference’s coaches as a senior. Dixon showed an impressive knack for forcing opponents to fair catch, but kicked in a dome in college and possesses only average leg strength. He’ll have to become a pinpoint directional punter to last in the pros.