When Jahdae Barron fell to the Denver Broncos in the 1st round of the 2025 NFL Draft, he became a no-brainer selection for the team. The fans may not have agreed (and still may not agree) at the time, but Barron was one of the few players with a true 1st-round grade on the team's board, and they couldn't pass on him when he fell into their laps.
But because the perception going into the draft was that the Broncos desperately needed a running back or receiver, there will be people picking this guy apart every chance they get. The Broncos recently had joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers ahead of their preseason matchup on Saturday, and Barron was the unfortunate victim of being put on blast by the official 49ers Twitter/X account.
Despite having perfect coverage on a pass thrown to 49ers receiver Ricky Pearsall, Barron was effectively posterized, dunked on, or "Moss'd".
Broncos rookie Jahdae Barron on the wrong end of highlight reel vs. 49ers
He's ready 🤩 pic.twitter.com/bemst0t6NA
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) August 8, 2025
You would obviously love to see Barron making a play on the ball here, but this is perfect coverage. Perfect coverage, better throw. Not much you can do about that, except get your head around and find that ball. But it was a truly perfect ball by Brock Purdy and a great catch by former 1st-round pick Ricky Pearsall, who has been one of the biggest stories at 49ers camp so far this year.
It's going to be easy to forget because of his 1st-round status, but Jahdae Barron is still a rookie, and everyone acclimates to the NFL at a different pace. The Broncos have thrown a lot at him to have him ready in the slot, in the dime package, and even rotating on the outside.
This is not an indictment of Barron, nor is it an indicator of anything, it's just unfortunate when you get dunked on like this in such a public way. You've just got to go out there and make the next play if you're Barron.
Barron will be one of the more obvious players to watch when the Broncos take the field on Saturday night against the 49ers, and it should be fun to see how extensively he plays (along with what positions he lines up at).
The Broncos undoubtedly took a risk by passing on needs to take the best guy on their board. They seemingly reshuffled their entire draft plan in order to take Barron, and you don't want to look back in hindsight and wish you'd never changed plans in the first place. The Broncos really liked running back TreVeyon Henderson and were going to attempt to move down a bit and still get him, but Barron's availability caused them to divert.
Hopefully, we'll see Barron doing a lot more taking the ball away or knocking it down than we do plays like this in his rookie year.