Weapons for Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos offense will have to wait. The team is busy assembling the No Fly Zone 2.0. In a move that Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are sure to hate, the Broncos have used the 20th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Texas Longhorns cornerback Jahdae Barron, perhaps the best cornerback in the draft not named Travis Hunter.
The Broncos took advantage of the falling Barron, who has been a jack-of-all-trades for the Longhorns defense and could be a valuable chess piece for Vance Joseph's defense. The Broncos will have a great background on this player because Barron's defensive backs coach at Texas was Terry Joseph, the cousin of Broncos defensive backs coach Vance Joseph.
For the time being, it's being assumed that Barron will come into Denver and play in the slot with Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II on the outside as well as breakout player Riley Moss.
Broncos assembling dominant secondary with Jahdae Barron pick in 1st round
While at Texas, Barron did a little bit of everything. He played some safety, he matched up in the slot, and he played outside. He is one of the most aggressive and instinctive defensive backs in this class, and you need guys like him to give you an advantage in man coverage.
We saw the Broncos really struggle with their depth at cornerback down the stretch last season, and this move should be considered very bad news for starting slot corner Ja'Quan McMillian, who struggled at times in 2024.
Barron is not the pick Broncos fans had hoped for in the 1st round of this draft, but he's a tremendous value at this point as some felt like he could go as high as 7th overall to the Jets at one point.
The Pat Surtain selection in 2021 wasn't a popular one, either. George Paton was seemingly loaded up at corner before taking Surtain, and that pick turned out great for Denver. Barron is a weapon for the secondary.