ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos coach John Fox wouldn’t call it a tryout. But effectively, that’s what the Tuesday kick-off between Connor Barth and Jay Feely was.

With either choice, the Broncos would have opted for experience over the struggling Brandon McManus. In the end, they chose Barth, who spent the 2009-13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but missed last season because of a torn Achilles tendon suffered in a charity basketball game.

McManus missed four of his last nine field-goal attempts before being waived Tuesday, and he hit just three of his last seven attempts from outside of 30 yards.

“That position in this league is very tough the first time around,” Fox said. “I think Brandon has a future in this league. He just needs to go back and work on his swing, so to speak, and I think he’ll be back.”

Barth got the nod over Feely in part because of age — he is a decade younger — and signed a two-year contract, declaring his leg in great shape and fully recovered from his injury.

“Everything feels exactly the way it did,” he said. “I was healthy when I came back in the offseason in April in Tampa. It feels great. Hopefully it’s stronger than it was. Usually when you get a repair it gets even stronger. It feels great. No issues there. I’m the same person I have always been so I’m just excited.”

The primary concern regarding Barth is on kickoffs, where he struggled in his years with the Buccaneers. He last handled kickoffs in 2010 and logged just one touchback, leading the Bucs to pursue free-agent punter Michael Koenen and sign him to handle punts and kickoffs.

The NFL moved kickoffs from the 30-yard line to the 35 after Barth’s last season handling that duty, and in brief kickoff work during the 2014 preseason for Tampa Bay, he had one touchback on two kickoffs, with one onside kickoff.

“Obviously kicking off at the 35 is awesome,” he said. “As a kicker here in Denver with the altitude it helps a little bit, but it’s been something I’ve worked on and wanted to work on because I haven’t had to do it since 2012. So it’s exciting to actually get to go out there and get to kick off again and kick field goals as well. It should be fun.”

But he won’t have the benefit of altitude Sunday night in Kansas City, where he will receive a stern test against Knile Davis and De’Anthony Thomas, who share kickoff-return duties and have averaged 45 yards per return in the last five games.

Davis had a touchdown on a kickoff return in the teams’ game at Arrowhead Stadium last December. But that’s a gamble the Broncos were willing to take in order to stop believing that every field-goal attempt was a roll of the dice.