7 breakout candidates for the Denver Broncos during 2021 season

2. PJ Locke or Caden Sterns, safety

I’m going to cheat a little bit on this one and say that I think one of two Texas safeties could break out for the Denver Broncos defense in 2021.

On my latest podcast, I talked about the idea of Kareem Jackson perhaps not playing 100 percent of the defensive snaps in 2021 as he did in 2020.

Jackson played as many snaps as he did last season out of necessity but there was absolutely an opportunity for someone to come in and earn some playing time but obviously, nobody on the team was going to bring to the table as competent of play as Jackson and Justin Simmons, arguably the top safety duo in the entire NFL.

With Justin Simmons signing a brand-new contract, he’s not coming off the field, but there should be chances to rotate the 33-year-old Simmons if the team is as high on both PJ Locke and Caden Sterns as I think they are.

The Broncos got a really good look at both Locke and Sterns in the 2021 preseason and both guys made some big-time plays, not just in coverage but in the running game as well.

I think Locke is going to get the first crack at snaps behind Jackson, but we should see both of these guys play quite a bit in 2021.