Maybe someday, if all goes contrary to recent NFL playoff history, the Broncos will look back and call it The Draft That Stopped Peyton Manning.
Better make that neutralized Peyton Manning. Stopped is too strong a word for any opponent, much less the Broncos, to use regarding Manning, arguably the NFL’s best pure passer today.
The point is, when Manning and the Indianapolis Colts visit Invesco Field at Mile High for a preseason game Saturday night, the Broncos will be ready with reinforcements.
“That’s our archnemesis right now,” Broncos rookie cornerback Darrent Williams said. “We’ve got to get past the Colts.”
Four months ago, with their first three picks in the draft, the Broncos selected a cornerback, a cornerback and a cornerback. The names – Williams, Karl Paymah and Domonique Foxworth – weren’t nearly as significant as their position.
Corner, corner, corner.
“I’m sure it’s not a coincidence,” Foxworth said. “It’s something I’m sure the Broncos saw as a necessity, and now we’re all here to do a job and hopefully help the Broncos take the next step.”
Forgive Manning if he already has his arm cocked. Like all healthy starters for both teams in the preseason game, Manning is expected to play the first half. Having ended the Broncos’ past two seasons in the first round of the playoffs by completing a combined 49-of-59 passes (83 percent) for 835 yards and nine touchdowns in 49-24 and 41-10 routs, Manning is more apt to drool than shake at the prospect of facing a secondary rotating in three rookies in the absence of veteran Champ Bailey.
“He’ll be seeing me out there, new guy, testing me,” Paymah said. “I can’t see how you can’t be ready for a game like this.”
In truth, Manning is more likely to challenge Williams and Foxworth before he spots Paymah and audibles to the air. With Bailey out for the rest of preseason, the Broncos will start Williams at left corner and Foxworth as the nickel back. Or Foxworth at corner and Williams at nickel.
Paymah, who was considered the Broncos’ most talented cornerback pick on draft day, would now be listed third among the rookie trio. It seems bump-and- run coverage at Washington State was great for refining cornerback skills, bad for fitting into the more complicated NFL defensive schemes.
“I can’t deny that,” Paymah said. “I’ve got to switch over my whole mind frame. Instead of being a lockdown corner, you’ve got to be a team-oriented player. I need to get in that playbook and be in a spot I’m supposed to be.”
Sudden impact
Gil Brandt, who built the Dallas Cowboys during their Tom Landry heyday and to this day extensively analyzes the NFL draft, had no problem with the Broncos’ strategy.
“Cornerback is one position where you can be a rookie and have a chance to be a good player,” Brandt said.
Rarely is a rookie a factor at quarterback, wide receiver and left tackle. Cornerback and running back, however, always will have a place for fresh legs.
“I think in today’s football, teams more and more are going to multiple receiver sets,” Broncos safety John Lynch said. “Consequently, teams are always looking for more cornerbacks.”
Rookie corners not only get a chance to play, they can become impact playmakers. Many of the league’s best cornerbacks, such as Bailey, the Baltimore Ravens’ Chris McAlister and the Oakland Raiders’ Charles Woodson – had their best interception totals their rookie seasons.
“You’re going to get some action because you’re not a proven player,” Bailey said. “Once you become established, they come at you in other ways.”
In the playoffs the past two seasons, Manning came at the Broncos any way he wanted. He picked on Kelly Herndon (now with the Seattle Seahawks) among others two years ago, Herndon and rookie nickel back Roc Alexander last season.
Cornerback coincidence
Regardless of how it looked, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan and general manager Ted Sund- quist said the postseason losses to Indianapolis were not the reason they went cornerback, cornerback, cornerback with their first three draft picks. More coincidence, they said, than purposeful reaction.
“Obviously, the return game was something we had to address, whether it be at cornerback or wide receiver,” Sund- quist said. “It just so happens we were impressed with what Darrent had accomplished in college. So he was the guy. We also knew all along that he could help us as a defensive back. But at that point it was primarily his ability to return kicks.”
Paymah filled the cornerback need in the third round, and later in the same round, the Broncos were looking at other positions when they were pleasantly surprised to see Foxworth, who had been projected to go much higher in the draft.
“I had extensive contact with 14 to 20 NFL teams, but the Broncos never contacted me throughout that entire process,” Foxworth said.
“You blink and look up at the board and we just drafted three cornerbacks,” Sundquist said.
Come Saturday night, maybe the corner, corner, corner draft will cause Manning to blink. More likely, he’ll audible.
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
