After being named the Big 12 defensive freshman of the year in 2018, Caden Sterns turned in two dud seasons to finish his Texas career. That tumbled him down draft boards to the fifth round, a fall Broncos coach Vic Fangio described as “an awakening” for the safety.
As one of the breakouts of the Broncos’ rookie class, Sterns is playing like he’s re-fueled and refocused. He debuted for Denver on special teams in Week 1, then Ronald Darby’s injury moved Pat Surtain II to an outside cornerback spot and shifted Sterns to the dime position (sixth defensive back).
Since then, he’s played 107 of 507 defensive snaps (21.1%) at dime, with two interceptions, two sacks, 12 tackles and four passes defensed.
“(Falling in the draft) definitely put a chip on my shoulder, just because in college I know I didn’t play the way I wanted to the last two seasons,” Sterns said. “I put that on me, because I wasn’t the player I knew I could be. Now I’m showing more of my potential with where I’m at, even though there’s still a lot of room for me to grow.”
With what defensive coordinator Ed Donatell described as “opportunistic” instincts, Sterns is one interception away from becoming the first Bronco with three interceptions as a rookie since Hall of Famer Steve Atwater had three in 1989.
Sterns had his first pick off a deflection late in the fourth quarter of the Week 3 win over the Jets, then tallied another fourth-quarter INT in the Week 9 rout of Dallas when he baited Dak Prescott into a bad throw to CeeDee Lamb across the middle. Sterns leapt up and to his left to make the athletic play on Prescott’s fourth-down throw and put away the Cowboys for good.
The 22-year-old said his comfort in the dime role, which he learned in the preseason, is allowing him to make highlight plays.
“This year has gotten my confidence back to where it was my freshman year in college,” Sterns said. “When my level of play was falling off in college, there were some (nagging injuries factoring in) but I was definitely starting to get into my head. I was starting to try to force plays and do things I wouldn’t typically do instead of letting the game come to me and trusting myself.”
While Sterns is asserting himself in the NFL, his brother Jerreth, who is slightly older than the Broncos safety, is emerging as a star in his own right at Western Kentucky.
Jerreth leads the nation with 104 receptions, is second with 1,276 receiving yards and tied for first with 11 touchdowns. Caden called his brother, who was an FCS standout at Houston Baptist prior to arriving at WKU, “the best receiver in college football.” And Caden’s head-to-heads with Jarreth growing up — they are two of seven brothers in the family, four of whom played college football — molded the Bronco.
“My brother’s going crazy right now, breaking all types of records in college, and nobody deserves (the success) more than he does,” Caden said. “It’s about 50/50 between us (in who’s a better player) — we definitely had our fair share of battles when we were younger, and he probably beat me more than I beat him. He’s a tremendous competitor and the reason I am the player I am today.”
Jerreth noted his younger brother “felt disrespected” when he slid to 152nd overall in April, but the safety continued to keep a positive outlook as he did during his sophomore and junior seasons at Texas, when injuries affected his performance.
“He always kept working and kept a positive outlook on his situation and you can tell that from the way he’s going now,” Jerreth said. “(In the draft), there were not that many safeties better than him in that class. So he was on work mode from the start, with the mindset of, ‘I’m about to go show everyone that I should’ve went a lot earlier.'”
There is already that belief within Broncos headquarters.
Sterns started turning heads early on in training camp before asserting himself during the first half of this season. With 33-year-old Kareem Jackson playing on a one-year deal, he could very well find himself starting at safety alongside veteran Justin Simmons in 2022.
“(Sterns) does a really good job as a rookie already dissecting route combinations, and where they’re trying to attack, what the quarterback’s looking at as the game’s developing,” Simmons noted. “Those are some of the things that I think will make him a great payer for years to come.”
