The Denver Broncos got bad news in consecutive weeks at the cornerback position. Against the Las Vegas Raiders, they lost second-year breakout player Riley Moss to a knee injury that sidelined him against the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football. And on Monday night against the Browns, veteran Levi Wallace played one of the worst games any of us has seen in place of the injured Moss.
The Broncos reportedly had free agent cornerback Jerry Jacobs in the building for a visit and workout on Monday, which is bad news for both Moss and Wallace.
Free agent cornerback Jerry Jacobs worked out for the #Broncos today, per source. Denver could be looking to add a corner coming off the bye.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) December 9, 2024
Broncos adding a veteran CB could be bad news for Riley Moss, Levi Wallace
Let's first talk about the more important thing here, which is the health of cornerback Riley Moss. Moss suffered a scary-looking knee injury against the Raiders and head coach Sean Payton later told everyone that they considered putting Moss back in the game before deciding against it. The fact that Moss was held out against the Browns and didn't practice the entire week was a bit of a surprise given that news.
The Broncos also didn't place Moss on injured reserve, so they clearly must believe he's coming back sooner rather than later. But the addition of a veteran cornerback, or even kicking the tires on the idea, gives us reason to at least pause that line of thinking a bit.
We'll see about Moss's status for this week against the Colts, but you would have to assume based on this news that there's a decent chance he won't be playing.
This news is worse for Levi Wallace because this feels like a direct response to Wallace's brutal performance against the Cleveland Browns in which he was targeted one play after the next. Wallace gave up a long touchdown to Jerry Jeudy and was victimized on a variety of other plays by Elijah Moore, Michael Woods, and several more times by Jeudy. That includes plays in which Jameis Winston simply couldn't connect with a wide-open Jeudy.
I would not be surprised if the decision to work out a player like Jacobs is a direct response to the play of Wallace. Wallace didn't look like he has the speed at all to keep up with NFL receivers in that game, and I don't know how the Broncos can even trust him in his previous dime package role at this point.
Adding a veteran at this point in the year would almost certainly be a move to just get backup experience as opposed to having someone come in and actually play a substantial role. We will almost undoubtedly see Kris Abrams-Draine and Damarri Mathis playing if Riley Moss is hurt with the Broncos playing their next two games in just over one week's time.
Jacobs had three interceptions for the Lions last year and has been working out for a variety of teams this season but hasn't signed anywhere.