The Denver Broncos have had high hopes for rookie cornerback Isaac Yiadom, but his progression has been slower than the other rookies in the class.
The Denver Broncos got the chance to work up close and personal with Isaac Yiadom at the 2018 Senior Bowl, and liked what they saw.
Yiadom was also a favorite of many NFL Draft analysts and scouts for his size, length, and man coverage abilities. Those man coverage abilities were on display at the Senior Bowl and Denver decided to make Yiadom a third round pick after working so closely with him earlier in the offseason.
Although the Broncos’ 2018 rookie class has looked stellar through the first 11 weeks of the season, Yiadom’s development has been a bit slower than the others.
He’s primarily played on special teams while mixing in a coupe of games lof significant work on defense, including the Broncos’ most recent game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Against the Steelers, Yiadom was thrust into the fire when Tramaine Brock suffered an injury late in the game.
It ended up being the second most snaps defensively Yiadom has played in a single game this season (23).
When Yiadom took the field, the Steelers wasted no time throwing the ball his way. He was targeted five times in coverage and won three of those reps, allowing just two receptions to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Yiadom is finally starting to figure things out, and with Brock’s injury status up in the air for this week against the Bengals, he may be in for his biggest role yet this season.
He played 31 snaps — a career high — against the Baltimore Ravens earlier this season.
As the Broncos pursue a .500 record for the first time since week four this season, Yiadom appears poised for his biggest role yet, and he also appears on the most positive trajectory since we were hearing about how well he was performing in practices in mini camp.
The Broncos have done a great job this season of relying on their young talent, and Yiadom coming on at this point in the season would be a huge boost to the defense.