The Denver Broncos have one of the more talented secondaries in the NFL. With Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II shutting down one side of the field at cornerback with Brandon Jones and Talanoa Hufanga on the back line at safety, their group has the skill t0 go to battle with any offense in the league.
Jones is heading into his second season with the orange and blue after he put up the best campaign of his career — by far — in 2024. Now heading into his sixth season in the NFL, he knows the Broncos have something that many other teams don’t on the back end.
“I’ve never been a part of a secondary this deep. The biggest thing I’ve noticed is, when the ones are down, [the] twos go in, the threes go in, rarely is there ever any drop off. I think that’s super unique, super rare, especially in the league. It’s definitely it’s going to be tough, man, for these roster cuts that are coming up. I’m glad I’m not put in that position, because it would be really, really challenging for me to do,” Jones said after Broncos practice on Thursday.
When the Broncos do finally cut the roster down to 53 players before the Aug. 26 deadline (2:00 p.m. MDT), they will likely have nine defensive backs still in town, unless someone goes out and makes a big play in Saturday’s preseason finale against the New Orleans Saints. As things stand ahead of the game, the corners likely to make the cut are Surtain, Riley Moss, Ja’Quan McMillian, Jahdae Barron and Kris Abrams-Draine, while the safeties will likely be Hufanga, Jones, Sam Franklin and JL Skinner.
If the Broncos opt to go with a third quarterback or five inside linebackers on the roster instead of an extra safety to back up Jones, guys like P.J. Locke, Devon Key, Delarrin Turner-Yell and Keidron Smith could all be on the outside looking in. Sean Payton will keep that information locked away until the last possible second, so it’s not quite clear exactly how the cuts will pan out. If he goes the route of what people think, all four of those guys wouldn’t make the cut, which goes back to what Jones said.
The potential of cutting four defensive backs who can all be valuable depth pieces — especially a veteran like Locke — goes to show how deep this room is.