Former Wake Forest defensive back Essang Bassey will look to earn a spot in the Denver Broncos’ new-look secondary in 2020.
The Broncos signed two undrafted free agents from Wake Forest, and seven undrafted players in total, but of every name on that list, the one that is the most surprising to go undrafted would probably be Bassey.
In fact, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com had a fifth-round grade on him.
In four seasons at Wake Forest, Bassey played in 48 games for the Demon Deacons. During that time, he wasn’t an interception machine, grabbing five picks in his career, but he showed off his ball skills with a very solid 48 pass deflections. That’s an average of one per game.
What works against Bassey, and is likely the biggest reason he wasn’t selected among the draft’s 255 picks, is his size. At 5-foot-9 and 191 pounds, Bassey was likely deemed too small by most teams.
But despite his size, Bassey doesn’t back down. You often hear of players that play bigger than their size. Bassey is one of those guys.
He does get run over by bigger guys and he does miss tackles, but he is willing to put his head down and sacrifice his body for the team. Those are the kind of traits that will endear him to head coach Vic Fangio.
Cornerback was considered to be one of the team’s biggest weaknesses entering the draft. The Broncos spent a third-round pick on Michael Ojemudia, but even with his addition, the team is going to really have to count on either Bryce Callahan or De’Vante Bausby next season, two players who had their 2019 seasons marred by injuries.
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Chances of making 55-man roster (1-10 scale): 4
Bassey has a chance to stick around the organization, but making the team this season will be tough.
The Broncos may have looked weak at the cornerback spot entering the draft and following the loss of Chris Harris, but the team has a few players deep on the roster that have at least one year of experience in Fangio’s defense, including Davontae Harris, Duke Dawson and Alijah Holder.
Those names are behind the names toward the top of the roster including A.J. Bouye, Callahan, Bausby and Isaac Yiadom. In other words, there will be a lot of players Bassey has to leap in order to earn a spot on the active roster.
Bassey has strong future potential, but he’s likely a practice squad player in year one.