A nickel cornerback’s positioning on any given play, Ja’Quan McMillian reflected, can often tip a defense’s hand.
So McMillian bent in his stance on a monumental third down Sunday night, trying not to show blitz. Because he was the ace up defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s sleeve.
The Broncos’ final defensive stand in a euphoric 22-19 win over Kansas City was a product of defensive coordinator Joseph’s trust in McMillian, and a deeper product of McMillian’s IQ — the same intuitive playmaking that turned him from an undrafted 5-foot-10 grinder into a three-year starter in Denver.
McMillian had read a tell from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes — he’d flash his hands up to indicate the snap was coming — earlier in Sunday’s game. He filed it away. And on third-and-10 with four minutes left and hearts racing at Empower Field, Joseph dialed up a balls-to-the-wall nickel blitz against one of the smartest quarterbacks in football.
McMillian disguised his stance. He saw Mahomes’ hands flash. He broke off the edge on the snap. And he came screaming at Mahomes, leaping into him to ward off any possible desperation heave, scrambling Mahomes and scrambling the Chiefs’ hopes at a game-winning drive.
McMillian came up roaring and pointing at the back of his jersey after his second sack of the game, a name that’s become inextricable from the DNA of Joseph’s defense. The name that’s gone from undrafted unknown to genuine NFL stardom.
“Top-three nickel in the league,” safety JL Skinner told The Denver Post postgame. “You watch the film, you’ll see it. He does stuff that not many people can do. And his size, people look at him and be like, ‘He’s gonna be a little guy, it’s easy.’
“But J-Mac got a lot of bite, a lot of bark, and a lot of strength.”
The 25-year-old has long been a man of few words, recalled Steve Ellis, McMillian’s former cornerbacks coach at East Carolina. He’s simply “real about his action,” as Ellis put it. And one of the quietest public figures on the Broncos’ roster was its loudest on Sunday night, racking up a defensive game that’ll live long in Broncos regular-season memory: two sacks, an interception and six total tackles.
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Every play hit harder than the last. McMillian brought down Mahomes to end the first half on an early sign of things to come. He picked off Mahomes on third-and-14 in the third quarter to set up a subsequent go-ahead Broncos touchdown. And he won the mental battle with Mahomes on that crucial fourth-quarter sack, disguising Joseph’s intentions perfectly on another nickel blitz.
“VJ was always telling me, ‘Just don’t show it early, you’re gonna get there — they don’t even think you’re coming,'” McMillian said. “So that’s exactly what I did.”
He has done this for years, from smaller stages to playing in front of the NFL GameDay crew on Sunday. At East Carolina, Ellis would walk into the weight room on off days and find McMillian alone, headphones on. McMillian would sometimes call Ellis at 2 a.m. to discuss the intricacies of a particular scheme, or leave him 40 text messages when he woke up in the morning.
In a game against Memphis his senior year, McMillian came to Ellis during a timeout and pointed out a play the Tigers had just run. When Memphis’ receivers stacked on top of each other, McMillian’s assignment ran a certain route, the cornerback told his coach. McMillian had seen it on tape.
“I’m gonna pick it next time,” Ellis recalled him saying.
The coach thought he was talking smack. Then, in the third quarter, Memphis ran the same formation.
McMillian picked it off.
“When you turn the tape on,” Ellis told The Post, “JMac has the heart of a lion.”
After McMillian’s second year as the starting nickel in Joseph’s scheme, the Broncos drafted Barron in the first round in April to play inside corner. McMillian didn’t flinch. He won his job back and has kept an iron vice on it through 11 increasingly productive weeks.
“I think I told you guys earlier, during camp — JMac’s gonna be JMac, no matter who they bring in,” McMillian said.
“I love Jahdae,” McMillian said of Barron, who had a terrific game himself with four tackles. “He’s been a great add to the team. And he’s gonna be a good player. But I just do me. Keep working hard, and go out there and do what I’m told to do. I never worry about the outside noise.”
McMillian helped unify Joseph’s scheme at one of the hardest positions in the NFL on Sunday, a key communicator in the absence of CB1 Pat Surtain and linebacker Alex Singleton. And McMillian only continues to grow in his fourth season in the NFL, now sitting at four sacks and six passes defended in 11 games.
He was not perfect on Sunday, of course. McMillian got beat on a 61-yard bomb by Mahomes in the third quarter to wideout Tyquan Thornton, the longest passing play of the year to date against Denver’s defense. And McMillian was already deep in self-evaluation postgame.
“That’s one of the plays I want back,” McMillian said. “You definitely remember those plays a lot more than the plays you make.
“But I guess,” he finished, “I made up for it at the end.”
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