ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos signed unrestricted free-agent long snapper Lonie Paxton, the team announced Sunday. Per club policy, terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Age: 30
Height: 6-2 Weight: 260
College: Sacramento State
Experience: 9 seasons
The Broncos also released tight end/long snapper Mike Leach, who spent the previous seven seasons with the team.
Paxton is a nine-year NFL veteran who had spent his entire playing career with the New England Patriots, who signed him in 2000 as a college free agent out of Sacramento State. He played in 155 of a possible 161 games (regular season and postseason) with the Patriots from 2000 to 2008, helping the team to three Super Bowl championships, six division titles and eight winning seasons during that time.
Paxton has played in 141 regular-season games and 14 playoff contests while seeing time in every game during eight of his nine NFL seasons. He hasn't missed a game in the last five seasons, handling long-snapping duties for the Patriots in 80 consecutive regular-season games and 91 overall games in a row dating to the start of the 2004 campaign.
A member of the Patriots' Super Bowl-winning teams during the 2001 (XXXVI), '03 (XXXVIII) and '04 (XXXIX) seasons, Paxton had 14 career special-teams tackles during the regular season and three such stops in the playoffs.
