Broncos Waive Punters Colby Wadman & Trevor Daniel on Doorstep of Draft

The Denver Broncos' roster is in a state of flux. After all, only one-half of the offseason's roster-building period has passed — free agency.

Next up is the NFL Draft, which kicks off this evening. Meanwhile, the Broncos opened up two additional spots on their league-mandated 90-man offseason roster by waiving punters Colby Wadman and Trevor Daniel on Thursday.

Daniel was signed to a futures contract at the end of last season after he came into Denver and tried out. Little did the Broncos know at that time that they'd be investing some salary cap dollars into a veteran punter poised to hit he free-agent market.

The Broncos signed ex-Lions punter Sam Martin to a three-year, $7.05 million deal in March, which rendered Daniel and Wadman expendable.

Wadman served as the Broncos' punter for most of the last two seasons but his performance left Special Teams Coordinator Tom McMahon wanting. I expected the Broncos to upgrade the punter position last year after Wadman's initial performance in 2018 replacing Marquette King was so inconsistent.

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McMahon stayed patient with Wadman but the Broncos as a team paid the price. Wadman finished as a bottom-third punter in the NFL last year.

Meanwhile, Martin finished with a net punting average of 41.8 yards which was good for 12th-best. Wadman's was 39.4 net yards per punt in 2019 — good for 27th. He punted 143 times for 6,369 yards (44.5 gross avg/38.7 net) with 51 punts inside the 20-yard line during the past two seasons.

The biggest issue with Wadman was his penchant for shanking a punt at the most inopportune time in games. A good punter can be a weapon for a team in the battle for field position.

Wadman was a loose cannon in that respect. Martin finished with 76 punts for 3,445 yards (45.3 avg/41.8 net) in 2019. It was the third time in his career his net average was over 41 yards. He's also one of just two players who've played in at least 10 games over the last six seasons to not have a punt blocked.

The Broncos upgraded their punter positon. But they're paying the premium. After suffering through Wadman's roller-coaster punting over the last couple seasons, most fans are happy to pay the price.

Happy trails to Wadman and in the case of Daniel, we hardly knew ye.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.