Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II is well on pace to becoming one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history. Through four years of action, he has become a force that has essentially shut down an entire side of the field as he has continued to get better year in and year out, and was rewarded for his efforts this past year with the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Over the weekend, Surtain was seen hanging out with a certain NBA player who also burst onto the scene as soon as he stepped foot on the hardwood for the first time. He was a high draft pick who instantly proved to the front office that selected him that they made the correct decision.
Scary: Broncos superstar CB Pat Surtain II has been hanging out with the legendary Michael Jordan this offseason.
Greatness recognizes greatness 🤝 pic.twitter.com/ep8UCG2RVb
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 13, 2025
Greatness recognizes greatness, and Michael Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time thanks to his decorated career with the Chicago Bulls in the 1980s and 1990s (and the short stint with the Washington Wizards at the end of his career).
Surtain posted a picture of the two of them on his Instagram story.
Surtain, 25, is heading into his fifth year in the NFL with the Broncos after improving in each of his first four seasons in the Mile High City. While the stat sheet might not reflect it, as he had a career-low in total tackles last season, the tape does. Cornerbacks can’t be judged on the stats alone, because a guy who is on the field as much as Surtain and doesn’t put up out-of-this-world stats shows that he doesn’t get much action from opposing offenses. His 45 tackles were by far a career-low, but his four interceptions were tied for a career-best.
For anyone who doesn’t know, you don’t want your cornerback to be making a lot of tackles, because that means they’re getting picked on.
Jordan is probably the best person that Surtain could be around to get pointers on how to deal with the fame off the field and how to be great at his craft. Jordan won six NBA championships and was named the Finals MVP in all six of those runs as the Chicago Bulls three-peated on two separate occasions in the 1990s. He was also a five-time MVP in the regular season.
Jordan wasn’t an NBA champion right away. It took him five years just to win a playoff series and eight to win his first championship. While careers are much longer in basketball than they are in football, he’s a guy that shows that team success can’t happen thanks to just one good player, which Surtain has seen in his first four years with the Broncos.
A recent video surfaced of some of the NFL’s top talents debating about how to beat Surtain off the line of scrimmage, showing the respect he has from his peers and how much of a headache he is for opposing teams to deal with. Having a night out with Michael Jordan shows the level of respect he has from the greats in the sports world, and it’s cool to see a guy that plays in Denver getting that level of respect.