For all intents and purposes, Broncos P Brett Kern had a decent day on Sunday in Cincinnati.  He punted the ball 8 times, averaging 42.5 yards per boot.  There were two 50-yarders in the group as well.  Of course, in a game that was determined by a big play late, every punt matters and the team might be focusing on the 28-yarder that came midway through the 3rd quarter with the Broncos leading 3-0.

Could that be the reason the team worked out a pair of punters yesterday?  Coming in for a look were Britton Colquitt, who was with the team throughout camp, and rookie Justin Brantley from Texas A&M.  Brantley was 3rd in the nation last year with a 45.7 average.

While 8 punts is a lot, you need only look at the punting stats from Week 1 to see why the Broncos might be kicking the tires on some available punters. 

This past Sunday, two other punters - Donnie Jones (Rams) and Andy Lee (49ers) - also had 8 punts.  The difference in average is astounding.  Lee averaged 49.1 yards (42.3 net) while Jones was even better - 50.8 yards (44.8 net).  As stated above, Kern averaged 42.5 yards (36.4 net).  That is 6 yards per kick, or about 50 yards of field position in a game.

If Kern's hold on the punting job wasn't tenuous before, perhaps the message has been sent that every kick matters.