{"id":955043,"date":"2026-07-25T11:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T11:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/955043\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T11:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T11:18:20","slug":"broncos-2026-position-preview-special-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/955043\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos 2026 position preview: Special teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Final in a series previewing the Broncos\u2019 2026 roster in the weeks leading up to the start of training camp in late July. Previously: Quarterbacks<\/a>, running backs<\/a>, wide receivers<\/a>, tight ends<\/a>, offensive linemen<\/a>, defensive linemen,<\/a> outside linebackers<\/a>, inside linebackers<\/a>, cornerbacks<\/a> and safeties<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the roster (4): Wil Lutz (PK), Jeremy Crawshaw (P), Mitch Fraboni (LS) and Luke Basso (LS)<\/p>\n

How many on the 53? Three<\/p>\n

Most impactful offseason move: Rewarding Lutz with an extension in November.<\/p>\n

OK, so this isn\u2019t an offseason move. We\u2019re stretching it a bit here. At the time Lutz agreed to a three-year, $16.1 million extension back in November (along with Luke Wattenberg and Malcolm Roach in the same stretch), we wrote that it was essentially getting ahead of free agent work, so we\u2019re making an exception. Lutz has delivered stability and a host of big kicks in Denver since he arrived via trade ahead of the 2023 season. He\u2019s been head coach Sean Payton\u2019s kicker for a decade, now, and the two have a trust between them. Lutz isn\u2019t perfect \u2014 he had a couple of missed chances in the AFC title game, including a 46-yarder that would have tied the game<\/a> that was tipped in the midst of a swirling whiteout. \u00a0But he\u2019s steady, he\u2019s got range, and he\u2019s not afraid of the big moment.<\/p>\n

Biggest question to answer in camp: Is Crawshaw ready to make the jump to elite?<\/p>\n

The Broncos\u2019 second-year punter has a big leg. He had a wild training camp last summer but overall punted well for Denver over the course of the year. Then he was nails in the postseason. This summer \u2014 as low-pressure as it gets, to be fair \u2014 he pounded kick after kick that looked and sounded\u2026 different. Obviously no team wants to punt a lot and Denver needs to punt less than it did last year when Crawshaw was third in the NFL (75) behind only Cleveland and Tennessee\u2019s punters. Those teams each won four games. If Crawshaw is able to harness his raw talent a little bit more, though, he can be a real weapon on special teams.<\/p>\n

Battle to watch: A hot one at long snapper<\/p>\n

Fraboni has been Denver\u2019s long-snapper every game for the past three seasons and last year earned a three-year contract extension. He\u2019s the clear favorite to keep the job going into 2026, too. The Broncos did, however, sign Basso as a college free agent out of Oregon right after the draft. They\u2019ve kept him on the 90-man roster through the summer and now as training camp approaches. He\u2019s in the building, so he\u2019s got a chance. If nothing else, his presence should keep Fraboni sharp through camp \u2014 and fresh, too.<\/p>\n

Under the radar: Denver\u2019s plans in the return game<\/p>\n

This could be as simple as continuing to roll with All-Pro Marvin Mims Jr. as the punt returner and trying to funnel as many kick return chances as possible to him, as well. When Denver got short on receivers in the postseason, the Broncos took him off of return duty because they needed him in an expanded offensive role. That could happen this fall, too, though Jaylen Waddle\u2019s addition to the receiver room makes it a bit hard to see Mims \u2014\u00a0or any of the other receivers \u2014\u00a0playing substantially more offensive snaps than he did last year. Even if Mims is the punt returner, the Broncos must find an effective second kick returner. The combined group finished No. 21 in kick return average in 2025.<\/p>\n

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Final in a series previewing the Broncos\u2019 2026 roster in the weeks leading up to the start of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,14706,2456,929,3883,3539,926,6,1813,9,3906],"class_list":["post-955043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-broncos","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denverbroncos","tag-football","tag-jaylen-waddle","tag-jeremy-crawshaw","tag-latest-headlines","tag-luke-wattenberg","tag-malcolm-roach","tag-more-broncos-news","tag-nfl","tag-sean-payton","tag-sports","tag-wil-lutz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116980344663243733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}