Former Broncos punter Britton Colquitt has agreed to a one-year deal with the Cleveland Browns, according to an NFL source.
The Broncos released Colquitt last Tuesday. The most tenured Bronco on the roster (seven seasons), Colquitt appeared in 106 games for Denver.
The Broncos’ move was primarily a financial decision; Denver drafted Riley Dixon in the seventh round this year on a $2.4 million contract spread over four years. Colquitt was due $3.25 million in salary for 2016.
The Broncos had approached Colquitt about taking a pay cut — the second in as many years — that would have slashed his salary nearly in half. In August 2015, Colquitt accepted a $1.4 million salary reduction.
On Thursday, in the Broncos’ preseason finale at Arizona, Dixon averaged only 37.4 yards on five punts.
“Riley is a young kid. He’s done a lot of good things,” coach Gary Kubiak said afterward. “Obviously tonight, we’ve got to be better than we were tonight. Itap not about one spot. There’s a lot of things that went on tonight that we have to do a better job at, coaching, playing, everything. We were asking Riley to experiment a little bit with the punt Joe (DeCamillis) has been working with him on. Obviously it didn’t work out very good tonight, so put that on us as coaches, but he’s got a bright future.”
Last week, the Browns traded Andy Lee and a seventh-round draft pick to the Panthers for punter Kasey Redfern and a 2018 fourth-round pick.
