When Jahdae Barron was a child, people made fun of his head. It was large. Larger than his body, it appeared, as mother Technoia Davis remembers.
As Barron grew up, people joked he’d grown into his head, Davis says. He stands 5-foot-11 now. There’s not much to make fun of anymore. Still, he takes it in stride.
“He’s like, ‘Hey,'” Davis said, “‘my heart’s always been big.'”
It swells largest for his mother, the reason he’s here, from Texas to the Denver Broncos. Davis worked in IT for Dell, sold life insurance for a few years and became a nail technician. Somewhere in between, she also ran a paper route in the summers. Around midnight, she’d hop in her Chevy Trailblazer and head to a warehouse to gather stacks of the newest Austin American-Statesman.
Davis didn’t make her youngest son, Jahdae, come. But his brothers tagged along. So, at all of 4 years old, Jahdae demanded to hop in.
It was a few years later, after summers spent chucking Statesman bundles out the window of their Trailblazer, when an eighth-grade Jahdae first blurted out that his mother wouldn’t have to work one day. Davis thought it was a joke.
Her son wasn’t smiling.
“I think we kinda fed off each other’s energy,” Davis said.
For the last few years, they have climbed together. Davis has sat her children down ever since they were young and had them sketch out a plan for their lives. She checked in on their goals every year. Davis held herself to hers, too, opening her own suite at a nail salon after going through cosmetology school.
“I don’t know what my life would’ve been — I don’t know if I would’ve kept the determination or motivation to keep wanting more,” Davis reflected, “had I not had him.”
In turn, Barron has followed one goal. Since his head was too big for his body. Since he started out as a deep reserve cornerback at Texas. Since the moment he arrived in Denver this spring.
“It’s my job to take care of her,” he said in his first presser as a Bronco, “for the rest of my life*.”*
In July, he signed an $18 million first-round rookie NFL deal — the kind of generational wealth that could allow his mother to retire.
At 23 years old, Barron’s greater purpose is largely fulfilled. But Davis taught him to game plan, and he’s now left to chase his own dreams. He wants 10 years as a pro to leave an NFL legacy.
Denver Broncos cornerback Jahdae Barron (12) comes out from behind a mat during Broncos minicamp at Broncos Park in Centennial on June 10, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
Denver Broncos cornerback Jahdae Barron (12) comes out from behind a mat during Broncos minicamp at Broncos Park in Centennial on June 10, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
The path there is an interesting one. Nobody in Barron’s camp expected the Broncos to draft him last spring. The Broncos didn’t really expect to draft him, either.
The Broncos already had three 25-year-old starter-caliber corners in Pat Surtain II, Riley Moss and Ja’Quan McMillian. But George Paton and Sean Payton didn’t take a first-round cornerback to take a first-round cornerback. They took one because it was Barron.
“These are premium positions,” Payton said the night Denver picked Barron, “and this type of player is less available than so many other positions. It’s harder to find these traits and what he does than at other positions.”
As the NFL has evolved to increasingly complex offensive schemes, defenses now spend a large chunk of time in nickel or dime “sub” packages, as Payton said. The value of a versatile defensive back has skyrocketed.
In 2022, Texas passing-game coordinator Brennan Marion told Barron he needed to learn how to play every spot in the secondary. Under secondary coach Terry Joseph — cousin of Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph — Barron moved everywhere over three years as a starter. He started outside. He started in the slot. He played in the box. He took reps at safety and ran the occasional blitz.
He was listed as a nickel on the Broncos’ initial depth chart, and is most likely to push McMillian for his starting job come Week 1. But the beauty in the Barron pick: The Texas product could be malleable to any need in the Broncos secondary for years to come. He’s taken reps at both outside spots in camp. He’s played in dime. He’s blitzed from the nickel.
Some young defensive backs are best left to simply grasp one position, Payton said this offseason. Barron isn’t one of them.
“He’s one of those players,” Payton said, “that can handle volume.”
Barron was “playing chess” at Texas, as he put it in April, darting around with the speed of someone with years of reps. In his first NFL camp, he’s catching up on a new game.
Perhaps Barron sizzles as a rookie. Perhaps he plays a rotational role. Either way, Denver’s first-round pick was as much about the future as it was about 2025 — a future he’s trying to build well down the line.
On April 24, as the jubilation of Barron’s first-round selection slowly settled at his draft party in Lakeway, Texas, his former high school coach Jason Cecil stopped him for a moment before he left. “I love you,” Cecil told Barron, before offering a warning. In years to come, the jack-of-many-trades might end up as Denver’s CB2 next to Surtain, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year few quarterbacks are willing to test.
“You’re about to get targeted a lot,” Cecil told Barron, “if they stick you out there at the other corner.”
Barron laughed. You’re right, he responded.
“He knows,” Cecil reflected.
Corner-ing the market
The Broncos added to a strength when they selected cornerback Jahdae Barron in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft. Here’s a look at the production from Denver’s CBs last season. Mobile users, tap here to see the chart.
Name Games Targets Completions Comp. %Allowed Yards RatingAgainst
Ja’Quan McMillian 17 101 65 64.4 688 85.7
Pat Surtain II 16 62 38 61.3 326 58.9
Riley Moss 14 103 67 65 747 95.4
Levi Wallace 13 30 20 66.7 271 106.4
Kris Abrams-Draine 5 16 7 43.8 85 34.6
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