Scouting the Broncos' new kicker Brandon McManus

Background

Brandon McManus attended Temple University.  His senior season, he selected 1st team All-BIG EAST Conference. Brandon holds career records at Temple in points scored (338), field goals made (60), and punting average (45.4). His senior season McManus converted 14-17 fg attempts (82.4%), and 32-33 extra points (96.9%).  As a punter, he landed 17 punts inside the 20 yard line, had a long of 68 yards, and averaged 45.1 yards per punt.  McManus received the 2012 College Football Performance Awards Specialist Trophy as the nation's best overall kicker.

Stats

Brandon attended Colts Training Camp as a rookie.  This season he was in competition with Josh Brown in Giants camp.

Tom Coughlin on Brandon McManus (via Big Blue View)

[Brandon McManus] and him were both very close. They both did a really good job. I think Brandon will kick in this league. He is a very powerful man. He needs to work on some of the finer kicks, but certainly demonstrated his ability to drive the ball through the end zone, which is a tremendous asset."

McManus hasn't had a lot of opportunities to kick field goals, but he has made the most of them so far going 3/3 all from longer distances.  Here's a few Gif's of his work thus far.

Normally I have a lot to say when it comes to film study, but this is a kicker.  Kickers either strike the ball or they don't. Prater is a good striker.  Ewald was not.  McManus strikes the ball well and has plenty of leg.  There shouldn't be any return opportunities for opposing teams with McManus kicking off.

As far as scoring points?  McManus small sample size indicates he can take on the tougher kicks.  Going back to college, his career average in the low 80's isn't all that impressive, but then again neither is Prater's pro career average.

The Broncos are likely to score quite a bit on offense and I'm talking touchdowns.  When McManus is asked to kick, he should bring to the table everything that Matt Prater did: a strong leg with above average accuracy.  Whether or not he can hit a kick with the game on the line remains to be seen.

What about Prater?

We're still trying to nail the details down regarding Prater's suspension and contract.  Normally, a player's contract becomes fully guaranteed the 1st week of the season.  When Prater was extended, he received a 3.25 million signing bonus and was fully guaranteed his 2012 base salary of 1 million.  In 2013, Prater's base salary is 2.5 million, and his overall cap number is 3.312 million.  Once you prorate the signing bonus, Prater's dead money hit on the cap were he to be released would be 812K meaning he would create an additional 2.5 million in cap space.

What we are unsure of is how or if his 4-game suspension alters the time frame for when his base salary becomes fully guaranteed.

According to spotrac Prater's 4-game suspension will cost him approximately 705K which will not count against the Broncos cap in 2014.

GO BRONCOS!!!