Oct 19, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns cornerback Jahdae Barron (7) celebrates an interception in the first quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. / Brett Patzke-Imagn Images
The Denver Broncos shocked the NFL and the fanbase alike on Thursday night by going with a defensive back with their first-round pick at No. 20 overall.
Selecting Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron and bypassing running backs Omarion Hampton and TreVeyon Henderson, wide receivers Matthew Golden and Luther Burden III, and defensive tackle Derrick Harmon, the Broncos invested a premium resource on a running mate with the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Patrick Surtain II to strengthen an already talented secondary.
Speaking of reigning, Barron stands as the 2024 Jim Thorpe Award winner for the best defensive back in college football. While some Broncos fans are disappointed, here are some things to think about that may help assuage those fears of missing out on the weaponry class.
Barron is an intelligent and versatile corner who, prior to last season, played the majority of his college career in the slot before transitioning to the boundary position for the Longhorns in 2024. He’s had incredible ball production over the past few seasons, especially in 2024, racking up 16 passes defensed and five interceptions for a Texas program that is once again one of the predominant teams in college football.
Will Barron play in the slot for Denver or on the boundary? Ideally, he’s utilized more like Kansas City’s Trent McDuffie or Detroit’s Brian Branch as a slot player who can also play the boundary, and even some safety as well.
Barron is an extremely intelligent and instinctual player whose ball production and physicality lend themselves to today’s NFL game, where teams play predominantly out of sub-packages but still need to defend the run.
Why would the Broncos bring in someone like Barron when the team already has the likes of Riley Moss and Ja’Quan McMillian already on the roster? While Moss had a very promising second year playing on the boundary for the Broncos last season, he’s now had multiple seasons missing games due to injury.
Not only has Moss missed time due to various dings and bruises, but his play on the field has suffered as well when returning from injury. His injuries don’t just date back to the last two seasons in Denver, but also to his time in college playing for Iowa.
McMillian has been an incredible find for the Broncos as an undrafted free agent, but after an incredible run in the middle of the 2023 season, where he produced a string of games with multiple turnovers, he settled into being a fine player for Denver from the slot.
However, as the Philadelphia Eagles showed with Cooper DeJean in their Super Bowl run last season, a difference-maker at slot can go a long way in today’s game. McMillian is a fine piece, but he shouldn’t keep a team from upgrading the position.
For those Broncos fans desperate for an offensive playmaker (or for the fans of defensive line domination) fret not; there are still ample avenues to add talent on Day 2 at running back, tight end, wide receiver, and the upfront. After ample rumors of the Broncos looking to make an aggressive trade up the board in Round 1, don’t be surprised to see them move up (maybe more than once) on Day 2 for players of their choosing.
This is a deep running back class, and there is still plenty of talent left for Sean Payton to hand-pick and place around Bo Nix next season in Denver.
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