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| Trindon Holliday's three return touchdowns in the preseason offered a glimpse of his talents, but he has yet to translate them to games that count. (US Presswire) |
The Broncos hope the NFL's shortest player can help resolve a significant shortfall in their return game.
Denver claimed Trindon Holliday off waivers from the Houston Texans on Thursday, hoping that the 5-foot-5 product of LSU can provide a jolt to special teams that have lacked the ability to make electric plays this season.
The Broncos are one of just two teams to average less than eight yards per punt return (7.4) and 20 yards per kickoff return (18.9) so far this season, as they have struggled to replace Eddie Royal, who signed with the Chargers as an unrestricted free agent in March.
Holliday was decent on punt returns for the Texans the last five weeks, averaging 9.2 yards per run back, which is 2.4 more than the Broncos' regular punt returner, safety Jim Leonhard. But he struggled on kickoff returns and his average of 19.4 yards per kickoff runback is 1.7 below rookie CB Omar Bolden's average so far this year. Bolden has returned 10 of 12 kickoffs for the Broncos this season.
What Holliday has going for him is a stellar preseason in which he earned the Texans' return jobs by averaging 21.1 yards on 10 punt returns and 39.9 yards on nine kickoff runbacks. He scored two touchdowns on punts and another on kickoffs during the August slate.
Holliday becomes the shortest player in Broncos history. They had two 5-foot-7 players in the past.
To make room for Holliday, the Broncos waived rookie safety Duke Ihenacho, who was inactive at New England last Sunday.
For up-to-the-minute Broncos updates, follow Andrew Mason on Twitter at @CBSBroncos and @MaseDenver.
