He looks like a linebacker. And hits like a safety.
The problem? He is supposed to be the Broncos’ future at corner.
His name is Jahdae Barron. He is a 2025 first-round draft pick, and it’s weird that he can’t get on the field more.
If there is one player on the Broncos who speaks to the present and creates questions about the future, it is Barron.
As he stands on the sidelines when the first team defense jogs onto the field, he is a reminder of how great — not good — this unit is. The Broncos should not only seek the top ranking, but expect it with the way they have pillaged, pounced and punched in training camp.
Because the defense is so highly regarded, it provides a simple explanation for why Barron logged only 30 percent of the snaps as a rookie.
But as he watches cornerback Riley Moss and nickelback Ja’Quan McMillian take reps, it also raises eyebrows.
Is Barron capable of filling in if Patrick Surtain II or Moss miss time, which has happened each of the last two seasons? Is Barron good enough to run with the 1s a year from now if Moss, McMillian or both leave via free agency?
Maybe it is because Sean Payton and George Paton have made so many good draft decisions — it is how the Broncos executed a U-turn despite absorbing an $85 million dead cap hit to release Russell Wilson — that the vision for Barron is confusing.
For a time, back in May and June, there were media conversations about how Barron would push to start. It looked like the corner was going to turn the corner.
Then Tuesday I asked Vance Joseph about Barron and if he was vying for a starting job, and he waved off that part — literally with his arm — about the depth chart. It is obvious that the Broncos coaches like Barron. But it is also clear they are don’t exactly know what the future holds for him.
“I see a guy who is stacking days and getting better. He plays multiple spots for us, and that is going to be extremely valuable. He is nickel, dime, sometimes safety. Last year, when Pat was out, he played corner,” Joseph said. “That is his role right now.”
There was a moment Tuesday morning during walk-throughs when Barron lined up as first-string nickel. But it vanished like a sky lantern into the night.
What does it matter if Barron plays in a variety of spots? It doesn’t. Not really. Not this season.
But if the Broncos knew they had this much talent at cornerback, then it doesn’t make sense that they drafted Barron in the first round when running backs, tight ends, and tackles were on the board.
It felt like a luxury pick then, and if Barron does not take a step forward this season with his better understanding of the defense, that adjective will seem kind.
The Broncos are a long way from the night Jerry Jeudy turned Levi Wallace into burnt toast. They have a solid room with Surtain, Moss, McMillian, Kris Abrams-Draine and Barron.
“(Barron) wants more. And I want more for him, obviously. But he has to earn it. It is a good secondary,” Joseph said. “And to have three or four good corners is a good thing.”
But is Barron not being able to crack the lineup a bad thing? Why can’t he start? Why isn’t it a competition? By the naked eye, Moss and McMillian are better than him.
As it stands, Barron’s versatility is his best ability.
Nothing wrong with that, except those players are found in the middle rounds, not in the top 20 where Barron was taken.
Letap assume Barron is a situational star this season. That he delivers a few picks, makes some third-down stops that swell in significance. It seems possible after he set the edge on a running play against the Falcons and took a deflected pass 97 yards to the end zone by reaching 21.15 miles per hour.
Assuming what we saw last Friday shows up again in bursts in the preseason home opener against the Packers, then the Barron issue becomes a delightful problem of inconvenience of a really good player simply waiting his turn.
“From what I saw a year ago, I thought he had a good season,” said former Broncos corner Chris Harris Jr., who was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s.
But at what position?
Watch Barron in practice and he looks more comfortable inside. He is listed at 5-foot-11, 200 pounds. He has biceps. He tackles like it is personal. It is why speculation exists that he will eventually become a safety.
Payton shot down a report of a position change early in camp, but there was Barron in the first half Friday night looking like a safety on one particular snap as the Broncos blitzed in zero coverage.
A utility player in the dime during a Super Bowl-or-bust season remains important.
But that cannot be Barron’s lot in the pros. He is too talented, right?
The Broncos need him to be an impact player in 2027 because quarterback Bo Nix will be eligible for a monster contract. First-rounders must be starters in that rubric to make the roster pieces fit.
On Aug. 19, that only seems realistic if McMillian, like John Franklin-Myers before him, prices himself out of the Broncos’ budget. The slot is where Barron makes the most sense.
But the bar is high.
McMillian is an absolute dawg, a playmaker, a guy who All-Pro defensive lineman Zach Allen said earlier this month, “makes the whole thing go. … the fact that he is able to cover, blitz, the whole nine. He is incredible. We are really lucky to have him.”
This is what Barron is working against: Moss is fearless and physical, even in the face of penalties, and McMillian provides the motor and its throttle.
Give Joseph credit. He is playing the best players, not ordering them by draft position or contract.
What can Barron do to get on the field? That is not an easy answer when he is bouncing all over.
“Yeah, not everyone can play both outside and inside equally,” Harris said. “He will probably be in his same role (this season).”
That is what I am thinking. I don’t see him defending the pass like Moss. Or coming up in the clutch like McMillian.
So, every time he is not on the field, it should be a reminder of how good the Broncos are, of why they can win a Super Bowl.
Just tell yourself that, and leave the uncomfortable questions about Barron’s position for next season.
