By July 28th, veterans and rookies will be back with the Denver Broncos at training camp. Camp is the time when coaches decide who makes the roster and who is on the outside looking in. For the key veterans that could not be more safe on the roster, camp is a time to refine their skills and build that skin up before the long regular season.
And the Broncos tend to run some of the tougher training camp practices across the NFL, which is absolutely by design. The Broncos got within one game of the Super Bowl in 2025 due to staying rather healthy and being more battle-tested and rugged than most teams.
The 2026 season could be more of the same, but as the roster is considered, it's clear that the Broncos have a logjam at a couple of positions, and a potentially wild, unthinkable trade that could take place during camp could sure one of those jams.
Could the Denver Broncos trade Jahdae Barron?
You may roll your eyes at this, but there is a non-zero possibility of it happening until it doesn't right? The Broncos used a first-round pick on Barron in the 2025 NFL Draft, and while the team did not need a cornerback, it was clear that the Broncos simply did not expect Barron to be there at pick 20.
Unfortunately, he wasn't on the field much as a rookie. Yes, he played in 334 defensive snaps, but with Riley Moss and Ja'Quan McMillian both playing quite well, Barron wasn't consistently seeing snaps as a rookie.
And now entering year two, it's the same thing - Barron does not appear to have a viable path to more snaps or a starting role in 2026, which feels rather insane to say, seeing as he's a former first-round pick and now a second-year player.
Moss more than held his own in coverage, and McMillian had the best season of his career and continued to be a big-play machine when the team needed him to be the most. The Broncos also did bring in some new faces at cornerback this offseason in Brent Austin and Sean Fresch.
It may seem silly to even consider this, but Kris Abrams-Draine is also in the room and has filled in nicely when asked, so it's not like the Broncos would be making some roster-regressing type of move here. With cornerback play in demand across the league, and Barron himself not really having a clear path to playing time, a trade could surely be on the table.
It would certainly cost a good bit for the Broncos to trade Barron, but Denver's cornerback room, even without factoring in Barron, could be the most talented in the league. The obvious reason not to make this move is that both Moss and McMillian (and safety Brandon Jones!) are free agents in 2027. It's largely been thought that in 2027, Barron would finally step into a full-time starting role, taking either Moss or McMillian's spot.
But even this scenario also isn't 100 percent clear, as the Broncos gave McMillian a massive raise this offseason after a bounce back year, and he appears to be a guy they'd love to keep for the long-term. Moss led the NFL with 19 passes defended and was stingy in coverage opposite Patrick Surtain II. Moss, despite 'only' being a CB2, surely had one of the toughest jobs in the NFL, as opposing quarterbacks don't test Surtain often.
There isn't a perfect solution here, and perhaps I am out of my mind for even suggesting that a Barron trade could happen, but Denver's secondary is loaded across the board, and if Barron is again in a position during camp where he isn't able to make any progress in the depth chart, a trade should be considered.
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