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Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior Writer
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — A quarterback competition can serve as a roster eclipse, as it keeps other major team decisions out of the light of day.
Well-hidden in the swirl of the Denver Broncos‘ competition for the starting QB job is the position group that faces the most extreme makeover of any place on Denver’s depth chart. The Broncos’ secondary currently features one of the league’s elite cornerbacks (Pat Surtain II), one of its best nickel corners (Ja’Quan McMillian) and three open spots. That’s a long way away from last offseason, which had a locked-in lineup that included veteran safeties Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson to go with Surtain and McMillian.
“Those guys, Kareem and Justin, they set the standard,” said P.J. Locke, a favorite to be one of the new starters at safety. “It was the reason we were pretty much always good on defense since I’ve been here. My job right now is to say, ‘Hey, I’m not them first of all, but they gave me a blueprint.’
“It’s my job to go in and figure out any type of way — my own way — to uphold that standard. That’s a challenge, but at the same time I know what comes with that.”
The Broncos and coach Sean Payton began unraveling the threads this past Christmas, when Jackson was released after serving two separate suspensions for repeated violations of unnecessary roughness rules. Simmons, the team’s longest-tenured player at the time with 118 games played, was released in March. And Fabian Moreau, largely a one-year stopgap at the cornerback spot opposite Surtain, was not re-signed.
Secondary coach Christian Parker also left to join former Broncos coach Vic Fangio with the Philadelphia Eagles and Jim Leonhard — whose 10-year playing career included one season in Denver (2012) — was hired as the secondary coach.
“There’s some change, always is, but I like our group,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said. “… These [preseason] games will carry a lot of weight, we’ll get them ready and they’ll compete, and it’s healthy to have competition like that to get ready for a long season.”
Surtain was held out of the Broncos’ preseason opening win at Indianapolis, so the two players who are competing for the starting right cornerback job opposite him — Riley Moss and Damarri Mathis — could both start. Locke and Devon Key started in the two safety spots, with McMillian in his customary nickel position.
Safety Brandon Jones, whose three-year, $20 million deal in March was the largest the Broncos gave any outside free agent this year, and cornerback Levi Wallace will figure in at some point. But both have been sidelined with hamstring injuries, with Jones getting hurt early in training camp.
Key and JL Skinner, the Broncos’ sixth-round pick in 2023, have seen most of the first-team work in Jones’ safety spot. Key has spent three seasons on NFL practice squads, having been on the Broncos’ unit since Dec. 20, 2022, but has put himself in position to make a 53-man roster out of training camp for the first time.
“[Key and Skinner are] both good young players,” Joseph said. “It’s been fun to watch them both grow. They both are taking strides with making calls … it’s been good to watch those two guys grow and compete. [Injuries] are not good for those guys obviously [or] good for us overall, but it’s good for our young guys to get reps.”
Wallace, signed to a one-year deal this past offseason, had been competing with Moss and Mathis for the high-traffic position opposite Surtain prior to being injured. It’s a role Joseph said takes “fortitude to play” and that “you have to handle adversity” since opposing quarterbacks usually steer away from throwing in Surtain’s direction.
An ESPN survey of coaches, personnel executives and scouts earlier this year rated Surtain as the best cornerback in the league. Yet the two-time Pro Bowler has said he still wants to increase his interception total in the months ahead — he has seven in three seasons.
“Of course I’m going to see myself in that regard,” Surtain said earlier in training camp. “I definitely take that role upon my shoulders for sure, but everybody is going to have their own opinions about it. At the end of the day, I’m just here to play my game and do what’s best for the team. … [But] when you really don’t get targeted that much, it’s hard to come by, but when I do I have to capitalize on the opportunity. That’s something that I can definitely do.”
Payton and Joseph have not yet revealed what the secondary will look like in the season opener at the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 8. The Broncos will get to evaluate it in some game-like situations this week, with a Friday joint practice with the Green Bay Packers before Sunday’s preseason game between the teams at Empower Field at Mile High (8 p.m. ET, NFL Network).
The Broncos hope Jones and Wallace can return to the practice field sooner rather than later. Given how hard the Broncos pursued Jones, who played his first four seasons with the Miami Dolphins, it’s difficult to see how he doesn’t start at one safety spot when healthy.
“We’ve been encouraged by all of it,” Payton said. “… The goal there … and overall is to get the best 53 [players], to make sure we do not send a good player elsewhere. That’s how we’ll make decisions.”
Source: www.espn.com