There has been a changing of the guard for the Denver Broncos’ special teams. Specifically, it’s a changing of the long snapper. The Broncos announced today that they’ve signed New England Patriots free agent long snapper Lonie Paxton. His arrival has triggered the departure of tight end/long snapper Mike Leach, who was released after seven seasons in Denver. The team didn’t announce the terms in its press release, citing a club policy. UPDATE: A league source told us that Paxton received a five-year, $5.138 million contract that includes a $913,000 signing bonus. Not too shabby. Paxton has a strong track record in nine NFL seasons with the Patriots, playing in 155 career games. He has been a part of three Super Bowl titles and six division championships during that span. It has been five seasons since Paxton has missed a game. And Paxton’s relative anonymity is a credit to how well he has applied his craft. Unless a long snapper screws up, there’s really no reason for people to ever know his name.
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