Broncos sign Connor Barth, waive Brandon McManus

The Denver Broncos have a new kicker. They waiver kicker Brandon McManus and signed Connor Barth on Tuesday.

The Broncos had a kicker competition between Barth and Jay Feely. Barth won the competition. Barth played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for four of his five seasons in the NFL. He made 85 percent of his kicks and was 6-9 from 50-plus yards and 12 of 13 from 40-49 yards in his last season with the Buccaneers, according to the Associated Press. He has made 84 percent of his field goal tries in his career.

Despite getting rid of McManus and signing Barth, Broncos coach John Fox said that there is no search for a new kicker.

" ... We have tryouts every week, at a lot of different positions," Fox said. "As far as my satisfaction with Brandon McManus, is kind of like our record, we're 8-3, wish we were 11-0. But we are kind of where we are and we're always looking to improve our team if we feel need be.”

He went on to add, “We're in a performance-based business, regardless of what your job description is, you're expected to perform. I don't think he's the worst kicker in the league by any stretch, as I mentioned earlier ... don't know there's a whole lot of kickers who've made every kick thus far, 11 or 12 games into the season. Whether you're a rookie or a 12-year veteran, you're still expected to perform. It doesn't matter what position."

McManus had been called an NFL-worthy prospect by the Broncos. He was 9-13 in field goal attempts and had a .692 accuracy percentage this season, according to ESPN. McManus has struggled recently. In the last eight games he had four field goal misses. The poor performance led to his release.

Barth becomes the Broncos third kicker since the opening of training camp. Matt Prater was the Broncos kicker last year, but he was released earlier this season. They saved almost $2.3 million off of this year’s salary cap and $3.25 million off of next years by releasing Prater.