Josey Jewell had quite the showing in his first preseason game for the Denver Broncos. Is this a sign of things to come from The Outlaw?
The Josey Jewell narrative from scouts and draft experts across the league is always the same: An inside linebacker with exceptional football intelligence, but lacks in physical and athletic ability.
Though these reports aren’t completely disagreeable, Jewell’s intelligence on the field to go with a quick first step helped him to be one of the best linebackers in all of college football the last three seasons, where he averaged just over 127 tackles a year. The NFL is a different monster, but the Broncos 5th round pick is already off to a good start in proving his critics wrong.
In his first action as a Denver Bronco, Josey Jewell played 42 defensive snaps, and showed a great deal of promise. He finished the night tied for the team lead in tackles and had a solid night in coverage against the Vikings receivers, tight ends, and running backs.
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Outside of a couple of rookie errors that could be attributed nearly entirely to nerves or just this being his time back on the field since playing in the Pinstripe Bowl, Jewell was one of the best defensive players from both teams throughout the course of the game.
Ex-Broncos Trevor Siemian and Kyle Sloter are about as good of a test as you could ask for from opposing quarterbacks in a preseason game, and Jewell was able to hold his own in coverage the whole night.
Jewell really stood out was against the run, where he has stood out his during his whole football career. That run stopping ability really stuck out towards the end of the first half on a 2nd and 10 deep inside Vikings territory, when Jewell shot the gap on a quick draw play and helped end the play for a four yard loss.
After just one preseason game the Broncos young linebacker should have the team excited for what he will bring to the defense in the short and long term.