According to NFL Network’s lead NFL analyst Ian Rapoport, the Denver Broncos have reportedly signed kicker Wil Lutz to a three-year contract extension.
Lutz is coming off a week where he had the game-winning field goal to give the Broncos the win over the Chiefs, was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week, and is now getting a three-year extension from the Broncos.
That’s a pretty good week right there.
The Broncos acquired Lutz right before the start of the season in 2023 and was met with some skepticism by the fanbase. He was coming off a down year with the Saints and was replacing a fan favorite in Brandon McManus, who was surprisingly let go by the team earlier that offseason. So, he had to earn the trust of Broncos Country, and despite some early ups and downs, he quickly won over Broncos fans.
During 2.5 seasons with the Broncos, Lutz has been fairly automatic for the team. He has attempted 88 field goals during his time with the Broncos and has made 77 of them, which comes out to 88.6%. He is 17 of 17 from 20-29 yards, 33 of 35 from 30-39 yards, 17 of 19 from 40-49 yards, and 11 of 17 from 50+ yards. Lutz has also been nearly perfect on extra point attempts during his time with the Broncos. He has made 99 of 101 extra point attempts, which comes out to 98%.
On top of being nearly automatic, he has kicked multiple game-winning field goals for the Broncos as well as making many field goals to give the Broncos the lead or to tie it late in the 4th quarter.
Lutz has that clutch gene.
Another thing Lutz has is the complete trust of Head Coach Sean Payton. He was his kicker with the Saints and brought him in during his first year with the Broncos. Special Teams Coach Darren Rizzi told reporters earlier this month that Lutz and Payton have a pretty unique relationship and that Payton knows Wil “pretty damn well”.
“They have a very unique relationship and obviously it dates back to New Orleans. I think Sean knows Wil pretty damn well. I think he knows what he can say, what he can’t say, what to say in certain situations, when to say something, when not to say something. We’ve talked about Wil. Wil’s a guy that’s been around now for a while. I think he knows Sean’s probably going to say something on his way out. He’s probably said more than that at other times (Laughs). I actually didn’t know that until afterwards. You know what? The truth of the matter is when Wil was walking out, Sean said something and Wil looked back to me and kind of gave me one of those [shrugs]. I didn’t know what he was referring to. I didn’t hear Sean say that. Kudos to Wil just staying locked in, again kudos to the operation, to the protection. I think sometimes we take those for granted. You look at a lot of kickers around the league, missed extra points, missed field goals, other blocked kicks. We have to take care of our own, but I think sometimes we take that for granted so great job by those guys.”
Lutz was in the final year of his contract with the Broncos and only a few months away from being a free agent, but I am glad the Broncos decided to keep him around. Having a reliable kicker you can trust in big moments is always important, and the Broncos have a damn good one in Lutz, and he’ll be with the team kicking game winners for the foreseeable future.
