Denver Broncos: Cornerback spot is still a concern

With the ‘No Fly Zone’ a thing of the past, the Denver Broncos must find a way to reinvent their secondary.

The Broncos are going to head into a year in which Chris Harris is no longer part of the team, but with great options at safety in Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson, another talented secondary can be built if the players at cornerback can step up.

That may be easier said than done.

There is hope that A.J. Bouye will be able to be a solid No.1 guy, but since his best success has come as the No.2 guy, that isn’t a sure thing. Behind him, there is even more uncertainty.

The Broncos will be hoping that Bryce Callahan can step onto the field, something he wasn’t able to do last year at all, and play well. If that doesn’t happen, the uncertainty grows.

Behind those two guys, the team has more question marks.

De’Vante Bausby showed some good flashes last year, but an injury ended his season prematurely. Isaac Yiadom has struggled for the most part in his first two years in the league and both Davontae Harris and Duke Dawson are role players, at best.

That brings us to third-round pick Michael Ojemudia. When the Broncos selected K.J. Hamler in the second round, they passed on defensive backs Jaylon Johnson, Trevon Diggs and Kristian Fulton, all of whom were still on the board.

Will Ojemudia be the answer to Denver’s cornerback quandary?

Ojemudia brings characteristics that Vic Fangio loves. He is great in zone coverage and is a sure tackler. However, he will need to prove himself in man-to-man coverage and improve the anticipation to the football that he put on tape in college at Iowa.

That all said, there are high hopes for him to be part of the regular rotation sooner rather than later on this team. Even with that being the case, questions persist.

Unlike in years past when the Broncos had the likes of Chris Harris and Aqib Talib, there is no “sure thing” right now at cornerback.

People can talk about the offensive line all they want, but at this point, it appears that the Broncos’ biggest weakness is definitely at cornerback.

How do the Broncos address this? Are they content to go into the season with what they have? Is there a contingency plan in place with a player that is still on the free-agent market, such as those discussed here?

This will be a key factor in 2020. In a best-case scenario, Bouye turns out to be a stud, Callahan bounces back as well as anyone could expect, Ojemudia becomes a big contributor as a rookie and a guy like Yiadom, Dawson or Harris has an unexpectedly great year.

What are the odds of all of that happening though?