How the Broncos are learning to deploy a young, talented CB group around Pat Surtain II

Kris Abrams-Draine played a relatively quiet 11 snaps last Sunday night in Washington.

The second-year corner calmly covered a couple of deep routes run by Commanders receiver Treylon Burks. He patrolled a couple of zones and made one tackle on a run play. He was not targeted on a drive that ended in an 8-yard Chris Rodriguez touchdown run.

Quality work, if not much quantity.

The fact that Abrams-Draine saw that action in the first place is anything but quiet. In fact, it’s part of a loud message sent by Broncos defensive coaches.

No, not about Riley Moss, the talented and often-penalized player Abrams-Draine temporarily replaced in the middle of the second quarter of Denver’s wild, 27-26 overtime win.

Rather, about Abrams-Draine himself, along with rookie Swiss Army knife Jahdae Barron.

About a philosophy by which defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and Denver’s staff operate.

About the Broncos’ embarrassment of riches at cornerback.

About a position group that was exposed a year ago this time, but now has talent and depth that might well be the envy of the NFL.

Everybody in the league is looking for corners. The Broncos have five that would likely play in some capacity for every team in the NFL.

“We’re one of the few teams that can play five corners,” Broncos first-year cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch told The Post. “Every one of us plays. And we all play at a high level.”

At this point, Joseph and company know well they can cover an injury here and there — they just thrived for 3 1/2 games without reigning defensive player of the year Pat Surtain II — and they know they can cover just about everything else, too.

Not only that, but if last Sunday’s outing with Surtain back in the lineup is any indication of what’s to come on Denver’s stretch run, the Broncos might just be getting started deploying their quintet of cover men in unique ways.

“Players need to understand that if they earn the right to play, they should play some,” Joseph said this week, mentioning Abrams-Draine and Barron among others. “They’ve played good football for us, so why not play those guys? They’ve earned the right.

“It keeps your guys engaged, and it just makes us a better football team going forward. It’s a good thing if you can play your young guys some each game and then when it’s time to really play, they’re ready for it.

“They’ve earned it, so they play.”

Lesson learned

When Moss injured his knee against Las Vegas in late November last year, the Broncos turned to veteran Levi Wallace.

Wallace held up fine in spot duty earlier in the season but was quickly exposed when asked to handle full-time work.

Almost exactly a year ago — in a Monday Night Football game Dec. 2, 2024 at Empower Field — Wallace played what he later called the worst game of his career. He was torched repeatedly by former Denver receiver Jerry Jeudy and eventually benched for then-rookie Abrams-Draine in a game-on-the-line, fourth-quarter spot.

That night led to two revelations: The Broncos had a depth problem behind their terrific top-line talent of Surtain, Moss and nickel back Ja’Quan McMillian and they also had an intriguing talent on their hands in Abrams-Draine, a fifth-round pick out of Missouri.

Abrams-Draine filled in ably until Moss returned.

Then the Broncos used their first-round draft pick in April’s draft on Barron.

General manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton referred to Barron’s selection as drafting on a strength, but also noted the stretch run they’d just been through.

“We had some injuries and you saw what happened,” Paton said the night they took Barron with a bevy of running backs and offensive skill players still on the board.

Every team hopes they don’t need to go too far down the depth chart, but every team also knows it’s going to happen at some point.

The Broncos knew they’d again rush the passer as well as anybody in the league in 2025. They fortified the middle of the field in free agency with safety Talanoa Hufanga and inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw.

Now they have depth and added premium talent in their cornerback room, too. The defense tore through training camp, opened the regular season and got rolling with Abrams-Draine on the bench and Barron playing a limited role as the dime man.

“This is the trick of the NFL. You can never have too many defensive backs,” ESPN analyst and former safety Matt Bowen told The Post. “But can you develop your Day 3 kids? Can you develop your Day 2 kids? Because they have to play. They’re going to need to play and — (in a) 17-game regular season. If you’re the Denver Broncos, you want to play, what, 20 games total and win a title? You need defensive backs. Guys are going to get hurt. Things are going to happen.

“A guy’s going to roll an ankle in a divisional playoff game and somebody’s got to go in and get the job done.”

An ankle in a divisional game or a pectoral strain against one of the most dangerous receiving duos in football, as it happens.

Surtain, whom Bowen said, “is up there with (Cleveland defensive end) Myles Garrett as the best football player in this league,” hurt himself trying to make a tackle against Dallas in October. He missed the rest of that game and Denver’s next three.

The depth test arrived with force and suddenness, as it so often does in the NFL.

Finding cover

Entering Week 8 this fall, Abrams-Draine had played exactly one defensive snap.

Then Surtain hurt his ankle — he returned and later left with the pec injury — and suddenly the second-year man was thrust into duty opposite Moss against Cowboys receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.

Abrams-Draine finished that game for Surtain, then settled into a job-share for three games, in which he manned the outside when the Broncos played sub (nickel, dime, etc.), and Barron played in base.

The split fell along fairly straightforward lines: Barron is a terrific tackler, so he played against typically heavier or run-oriented offensive sets. Abrams-Draine is more polished in coverage and has what Payton has described as perhaps the best ball skills on the roster.

“He has a certain calmness when the ball’s in the air that some people have, and some people don’t,” secondary coach and defensive passing game coordinator Jim Leonhard told The Post recently. “It’s hard to teach. They just have that sense of timing on the second half of the play to not panic, to put themselves in the right position to finish. He definitely has that and it’s just fun to watch his confidence grow the more snaps that he gets. Because that’s a rare trait.

“Some guys get panicky or kind of impatient late in the down. And some people get more calm. It’s hard to teach that and he definitely has it.”

Teammates regularly rave about Abrams-Draine’s ability in coverage and his knack for getting his hands on the ball.

He just hasn’t been asked to actually play well into the season each of his first two years.

“You’d say right now, when he has to play, he’s a quality starter,” Bowen said. “And a quality starter grade is something you can win with.”

Finding quality starters at the corner is no easy task, let alone on Day 3 of the draft. But Denver has identified talent throughout the draft order.

They’ve no doubt spent considerable draft capital, considering Paton’s three first-round picks in Denver are quarterback Bo Nix (2024), Surtain (2021) and Barron (2025).

But they also signed McMillian as a rookie free agent in 2022, drafted Moss in the third round in 2023, and then picked Abrams-Draine in the fifth round last year. The only corner Denver drafted before the seventh round since Paton arrived in 2021 who didn’t stick long term was Damarri Mathis (2022 fourth round), and even he started 18 games between 2022-24.

Add in Reese Taylor, a midseason add from the practice squad to the 53-man roster and so far a special teams-only player, and the Broncos have six corners currently on their active roster. None of them has ever played a snap for another team.

“Our front office is insane, what they do in the offseason to be able to help us evaluate and be able to get these guys the right pictures that we want,” Lynch told The Post. “We do a good job as far as with Coach Sean, talking about how we see the future for these guys. It’s all about having a vision for everybody we look at in the draft, and we’ve done a good job getting guys that match the vision that we see. And it’s coming to fruition now.”

Joseph talks about scouting two distinct types of players. Outside corners, where height, length and long speed are among the prerequisites. Then nickels, where foot quickness, toughness and smarts are paramount.

“We’ve drafted well over the last two years with corners and they’re all growing and all playing well for us,” Joseph said. “It’s a premium to have corners and rushers. With our defense and how we play, if we can’t rush and cover, we can’t play this defense.

“So drafting one every year, for me, is always a premium.”

Bowen sees a common trait that runs through every member of the Broncos’ cornerback group, too. Perhaps not the flashiest attribute but maybe football’s most fundamental.

“One thing about Denver is they tackle,” Bowen said. “The sign of any good defense — I don’t care if it’s Pop Warner or playing on Sundays — the No. 1 sign is their ability to tackle. That’s how you limit explosive plays.”

When Leonhard starts looking at defensive backs, he looks not so much at measurables or even, necessarily, physical traits. He’s seeking things that pop off the screen for any particular player.

“The No. 1 thing you look for is what makes them special,” he said. … “Sometimes that’s versatility. Sometimes that’s the ability to do something really, really well, but maybe they’re not as well-rounded. But they have a skill that is really unique.”

Abrams-Draine: Calm. Barron: Versatile. Moss: Explosive. McMillian: Instincts.

Then there’s Surtain, who has all of that and more on his 6-foot-3 frame. He’s the anomaly; on a potential Hall of Fame track at 25 years old.

Surtain, though, is also now the elder statesman in the room as a fifth-year pro who speaks readily and highly of the young guys looking up to him. This week, he called each of them a “pro’s pro” and lauded their study habits and processes.

“It’s something you develop over time and over the course of just watching film, watching tendencies,” Surtain told The Post. “They’ve been on top of that. They’re understanding the game. When they came in, they were willing to learn to be diligent with their craft.

“That’s a testament to them for coming in and preparing the right way.”

Nickels and dimes

Barron broke on the ball in a flash.

He had Sunday’s game against the Commanders on his hands in overtime.

Instead of a game-sealing, walk-off interception, though, he dropped Marcus Mariota’s pass, allowing Washington’s drive to continue.

Minutes later, Nik Bonitto made the play that delivered victory all the same for Denver.

That Barron let the ball hit the ground is a moment he won’t soon forget.

That he was in that position to begin with, though, is significant.

The Broncos knew where Mariota wanted to go with the ball out of that look. They put Barron in the spot to make the play.

“We’re cutting that inside route,” Leonhard said, describing the way Barron handed the inside receiver off to safety Talanoa Hufanga, dropping down from the third level. “So (Barron’s) delivering it and then falling off. He did a great job, obviously, and was in the perfect position.

“Just got to find a way to finish it.”

Barron was back to a mostly typical workload with Surtain back in the line up (27.8%) of snaps against the Commanders. His role, though, is anything but typical.

Barron played in the slot and played solo on the backside against tight end Zach Ertz. He lined up essentially as a linebacker. He manned a third safety spot in a long-yardage situation. He mugged up in the ‘A’ gap.

He had reps guarding Ertz, Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel. This, after three weeks of playing mostly outside in Surtain’s absence.

As the season progresses, Joseph and the coaching staff keep finding more ways to implement their first-round pick and he keeps finding ways to get the myriad jobs done.

“It was one of the top things you loved about his skill set coming out of college was his intelligence and versatility,” Leonhard said. “And obviously, we have a talented group around him, so sometimes the snaps aren’t always there in your traditional or conventional role.

“So as the season goes along and he has a better feel for our scheme and just the NFL — it’s a different game — you’re able to use him in more ways week in and week out.”

The proof is in the way the Broncos have deployed their defensive backs this year. They’re playing dime 14.3% of the time, according to Sumer Sports data, which is essentially double what they’ve played in either of Joseph’s first two years as coordinator (7.3% in 2024, 6.8% in 2023).

There’s more than one reason for that, but Barron’s near the top of the list.

The Broncos don’t always feel like they have to keep a full set of big bodies on the field because their front-line players are capable of winning anyway, and also because they’ve got players in the back seven who can hold up against the run when needed.

“The longer you’re in a system with some players that have unique skillsets — whether it’s safeties that can do ‘backer jobs or corners that can do safety jobs,” Leonhard said, “The more versatility you have within your back seven, it allows you to get into different packages.

“And, obviously, with Jahdae’s skill set, we’re able to get into more dime and run man concepts, zone concepts, pressures. We feel like we have a lot of options out of that.”

Last time the Broncos played Las Vegas, Joseph decided he was going to stay in nickel even when the Raiders put two tight ends on the field. That was during a stretch of operating without Surtain.

Now with Denver fully healthy and willing to deploy its five corners in any number of combinations, the stretch run figures to feature more creative looks, more aggressive posturing and more trusting in a pair of young players that have turned a December 2024 weakness into a December 2025 weapon.

“To see those guys step up and play how you hoped — you always hate to say as a coach ‘what you expect’ but as you hoped,” Leonhard said, “It’s not too big for them. They love going out there and competing.

“And now you’re sitting at this point of the season and you have two more guys you feel like you can throw on the field in different capacities any week and get something different.”

Broncos CB draft picks since 2021

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