It seems the Denver Broncos' kicking battle might be over before it even got the chance to start. In late May, the team released their longest-tenured player, kicker Brandon McManus, after a shaky 2022 season. McManus would quickly get scooped up by the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Broncos were left searching the free agent market for their next kicker.

The Broncos decided to sign kickers Elliott Fry and Brett Maher. The signing of Maher was a head-scratching move to many fans, considering earlier in the year he had a historically bad playoff performance with the Dallas Cowboys. Fry on the other hand, was a journeyman kicker who had been with 10 different NFL teams before landing in Denver.

The two kickers had up-and-down performances in the Broncos' first preseason loss against the Arizona Cardinals.

Head coach Sean Payton recently revealed that Fry tweaked a lower body muscle, and was waived on an injury designation.

Despite Brett Maher now being the only kicker on the roster, Payton made it clear that he hasn't won the kicking job just yet.

“We’ll go day to day with where we’re at with the kickers,” said Payton, per 9News. “I’ve said this before to you guys – Brett had a good day today. He’s competing – he’s competing with himself because he has 31 other teams. Now there’s probably seven teams that have a real kicking battle. So he’s competing with those guys that come out of those clubs.”

It seems that the Broncos are scouting other kickers at the moment, and are keeping a close eye on that waiver wire.