Jahdae Barron is the newest member of the Denver Broncos, and few draft observers expected such a sentence to be written.
The mocks that you guys read for the last month, what do you want me to say?” Broncos coach Sean Payton said Thursday night in the wake of the NFL Draft’s first round, which saw the Broncos select Barron, the reigning Jim Thorpe Award winner from the University of Texas.
“It’s embarrassing sometimes, but it’s entertaining.”
The Broncos certainly aren’t embarrassed about the pick. The “best player available” argument could clearly and easily be made for Barron. Whether it meshed with need — that’s another story.
But if you look closer, adding Barron makes sense.
THE BACKGROUND
Yes, they have the Defensive Player of the Year at one spot in Pat Surtain II, a solid young starter on the opposite side in Riley Moss and a steady third-year veteran in the slot in Ja’Quan McMillian who is eligible for restricted free agency next year.
With Surtain signed long-term and Moss in the third year of his rookie deal, it’s a corps they should be able to keep together. Last year’s fifth-round choice, Kris Abrams-Draine, impressed down the stretch last year and provides depth; general manager George Paton lavished praise on him three-and-a-half weeks ago at the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Fla.
A fifth cornerback for developmental depth was on the list of needs after special-teams standout Tremon Smith returned to the Houston Texans to become the NFL’s highest-paid core special teamer.
But then Barron fell through the first round.
“We weren’t expecting him to be there,” Paton said.
Few did. Many pundits expected Barron to go to the Miami Dolphins with the No. 13 overall pick, especially with trade rumblings swirling around Jalen Ramsey.
But Miami passed, selecting defensive lineman Kenneth Grant, who interviewed with the Broncos at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Plans change. Barron — who had a single interview with the Broncos, via Zoom, fell down the board. And now he’s a Denver Bronco.
WHY BARRON MAKES SENSE
1. CORNERBACK IS ALWAYS A NEED
; BARRON FILLS IT
As noted earlier, even when you have a solid room, a team never stops evaluating the position. The injury rate is high; even though the Broncos are among the league’s healthiest the last two years, Moss has dealt with significant issues in both seasons.
At Las Vegas in Week 12 last season, a medial collateral ligament injury felled Moss. He missed four games. In the first week of his convalescence — the Monday Night Football contest against the Cleveland Browns — the results were disastrous, as understudy Levi Wallace replaced Moss and found himself the repeated target of Jameis Winston’s tosses to Jerry Jeudy.