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Published on 07/09/2008 at Wed Jul 09 14:00.
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Sorry for the delay, folks.  After a brief hiatus, the Player Bios continue, and will run 7 days a week to catch up before the start of the season!

Garrett Hartley

Garrett Hartley
Name: Garrett Hartley
Height, Weight: 5’8″, 196
Position: Kicker
Age, Experience: 22, R
College: Oklahoma

Garrett Hartley joined the Denver Broncos as an undrafted rookie free agent kicker in April 2009. With the not-so-fond farewell of franchise kicker Jason Elam in March, the Broncos needed to address the kicker position for 2008 and beyond. Inexperienced backup Matt Prater was the only kicker on the roster, and the Broncos had a need to bring in another young leg to compete for the spot through summer camps.

The Good: Physically, Hartley is more than capable of performing at the pro level. He has tremendous leg strength, easily capable of nailing a 50-yarder, and many scouts say he has the ability to kick a 60-yard field goal with relative ease. His last two years at Oklahoma saw him make a decent 32 out of 35 field goal attempts, including 7 of 8 from 40 yards and beyond. In those two seasons, Hartley went 120 for 126 in PATs. His leg strength will also be a big asset in field position.

The Bad: He hasn’t had a lot of experience attempting field goals from beyond 40 yards, with only a single attempt (which was good) past 50 yards in the past two seasons. In 2005, Hartley made only 14 of 22 attempts, connecting on only 5 of 10 attempts past 40 yards. His decline in production from 2006 to 2007 could be due to an unconfirmed and unspecified injury he fought through that year.

Status: Competing for starting job. Matt Prater is technically the incumbent, so Hartley will have to work hard to earn the job. Garrett Hartley was born on May 16, 1986, in Southlake, Texas.

As always, we invite you, the readers, to partake. Do you trust Hartley to fill Elam’s trusty shoes, or is he too inexperienced for your tastes, with the game on the line?

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  • azbronco7

    whose stats are better in college, hartley or prater?

  • http://mrherculesrockefeller.blogspot.com hercules rockefeller

    Hartley’s college stats blow Prater’s out of the water. Heres a little excerpt from the Post from a couple months ago:

    Before that, during his days as Brandon Marshall’s teammate at Central Florida, he missed 12 out of 27 attempts from 30 to 39 yards. Strange as it seems, he was better from long distance, nailing 20 out of 30 attempts from 40 yards and beyond, including one from 53.

    http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_9371861

    Oh, and Hartley needs a haircut as bad as anyone’s ever needed one.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    I felt better about our kicking situation after writing this article than I have all offseason.

    Makes me wonder why Hartley was ranked anywhere from 6th to 15th among THIS year’s rookies.

  • http://www.broncomadness.com Garret Barnes

    I love this guy! (Not just because we have the same name). But I really do feel like he should be the heir to the throne of Jason Elam.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    Voted no, not because I think the kid can’t get it done, but talking to OU fans: this kid was never used. They would bypass him all the time to for it on fourth.

  • Rick

    The charger fans, Raider fans and KC fans are currently holding parties celebrating the Bronco’s loss of Jason Elam. The chants of thank GOD Elam is gone are loud from the western AFC conference.

  • Debbie Hagy

    I think Brandon Pace should have got it. After all, he was the top AFC kicker and had already showed Denver what he is made of. Oh well, Denver’s loss.

  • Sheri

    The Broncos always cutting people way to soon and cutting Mike Bell was a bigger mistake.