While Denver Broncos rookie cornerback Jahdae Barron has been looked at as somewhat of a failure in terms of how he was supposed to fit in the NFL’s best defense, last week’s 44-24 win over the Dallas Cowboys might be a turning point for both Barron and his team.
To this point, Barron has not met the expectations placed on him as Denver’s first round pick (No. 20 overall). Getting his first interception against the Cowboys along big opening with cornerback Patrick Surtain II out for the next 3 weeks could change the narrative quickly.
If he doesn’t, Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon already has Barron tagged as the team’s “Biggest Disappointment” through the first 2 months of the regular season.
“Patrick Surtain II has set the bar seriously high for first-round cornerbacks in Denver, and it’s too early to become concerned here,” Gagnon wrote. “That said, the rookie No. 20 overall pick has yet to earn a major role and has played just a quarter of the team’s defensive snaps. He’s got the fifth-lowest defensive PFF grade on the team.”
The Broncos are one of the NFL’s hottest teams — they’re 6-2 and and have won 4 consecutive games headed into a Week 9 road game against the Houston Texans in which Barron will likely play a big part in picking up the slack in Surtain’s absence.
Barron Forced to Sit and Learn Behind Stars
To this point, Barron hasn’t managed to crack the starting lineup not just at outside cornerback, but he’s listed behind Ja’Quan McMillan at slot cornerback.
Through 8 games, Barron has 12 tackles, 1 interception, 1 fumble recover and 3 pass deflections and has made 1 start — he’s also only been on the field for 24 percent of Denver’s defensive snaps along with 21 percent of their special teams snaps.
In Barron’s defense, cracking a lineup that features 2 of the NFL’s elite cornerbacks in Surtain and Riley Moss wasn’t quite as easy as the experts predicted it would be.
Projected as Dark Horse NFL Defensive ROY
Some of the more over the top projections for Barron might have skewed expectations for him before his rookie year.
“This Is Football” podcast host Kevin Clark put Barron at the top of his list of “Instant Impact Rookies” on April 30.
“(Barron) has enough versatility to line up at corner, safety, slot outside and is a dime linebacker,” Clark said. “He can kind of do everything. And I’m already looking at this Denver defense and seeing where he’s going to fit in really easily and there’s playmakers all over the place … I’m having a hard time seeing Barron not being an instant impact star and that Broncos team winning a bunch of games this year.”
It’s not hard to see where that kind of hype comes from.
Barron won the Jim Thorpe Award at the University of Texas in 2024 and followed that up by running the 40-yard dash in a blazing, 4.39 seconds at the NFL scouting combine.
If we’re looking for reason that Barron is off to a slow start, one of them might be that he was one of the last first round picks to sign his contract, inking a 4-year, $18.01 million deal on July 16, which was almost 3 months after he was drafted.
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