Tom Mihalek / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Safety Brian Dawkins signed a five-year, $17 million contract with the Broncos on Saturday.

Dawkins said his big move dawned on him when he arrived at Dove Valley Saturday morning to put his signature on a five-year, $17 million contract and saw his bright orange jersey on the table.

“I’ve worn the green so long that a lot of people didn’t know how I was going to react to this orange,” Dawkins said. “Well, I went to Clemson, so I’ve worn this orange with pride already.”

Dawkins figures he has at least a couple more good seasons in him. He started all 16 games last season for the third time in four years and had 75 tackles, three sacks, six forced fumbles and an interception.

The Broncos, who gave up 448 points last season while ranking at or near the bottom in every major defensive category, ran through six free safeties after signing Marlon McCree and Marquand Manuel last offseason.

McCree was allowed to become a free agent and Manuel was jettisoned along with four other defensive starters in a massive spring cleaning that freed up $37 million in cap space.

In addition to bringing in the two veteran safeties, McDaniels has tapped the New England pipeline, luring wide receiver Jabar Gaffney and long-snapper Lonie Paxton from the Patriots. Hill and Gaffney both signed four-year deals worth $10 million with $3 million in guarantees, their agent, Drew Rosenhaus confirmed Saturday.

Reid, 26, has started just twice at defensive tackle in his four seasons in Indy, but emerged as an elite special teamer, leading the Colts in special teams tackles with 18 last season.

The Broncos hope the versatile unrestricted free agent can fill many needs in Denver. His contract contains incentives that could push the value to $9.6 million based on playing time and sacks, Baratz said.

“I really don’t know what their plan is, but I know he’s in a unique role in that he can play multiple positions and is a jack of all trades,” Baratz told The Associated Press.

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