Broncos in-house players who could fill the team’s top needs

Isaac Yiadom/Davontae Harris/Duke Dawson/De’Vante Bausby, cornerback

This is probably the one position where I differ from a lot of the members of Broncos Country.

Here’s my flaming hot take: Cornerback is one of the most overrated needs on the team.

Now, when I say that, please don’t take this as me saying that the Broncos should not pursue upgrades or sign a big-money guy here. I’m always for making the team better at this position.

But I get a lot of complaints about my mock drafts on Twitter because they don’t often include cornerbacks. This is the reason why: The Broncos have a lot of young guys to work with.

At one point or another last year, we saw good things from all four of these guys mentioned here. They also all ended up getting into rotations or replaced because others were playing better, but this was their first year learning Fangio’s defense (except Bausby) and it was also three of their first years in Denver.

Not to mention, they are all young players finding their footing in this league.

I think all of these guys have starter-caliber skills. Dawson was a second-round pick and Yiadom was a third-round pick. Bausby might be the fastest defensive back the Broncos have. Harris is as physical as you will find coming from the college ranks.

Even losing Chris Harris, the Broncos should have Bryce Callahan back this year, and I might be over-projecting a bit here, but I think bringing back this group of young players along with Callahan and re-signing Will Parks to play the nickel/dime role gives the Broncos an excellent foundation to work with.

If the team can re-sign Chris Harris or sign a top free agent corner, that’s great as well, but I think we saw flashes from all of these players that have given me confidence the Broncos have starting corners in waiting.

They also have great talent developers on the defensive side of the ball and a scheme that has historically made stars out of underrated guys in the defensive backfield.

If I’m John Elway, I’d be having a long conversation with Vic Fangio and Ed Donatell about all of these young cornerbacks and trying to figure out exactly where to prioritize this position in the offseason.

I don’t know if the Broncos should just roll with the players they will carry over from this past season — and there are other young guys like Shakial Taylor, Horace Richardson, and Alijah Holder to consider — but I am a strong advocate of this group of young players, in particular, being given the chance to develop in Fangio’s defense.