Barron mind, corners turn corners at different speeds.
Justin Simmons played on 31% of the Broncos’ defensive snaps as a rookie in 2016. Cornerback/nickel back/who-the-heck-knows back Jahdae Barron appeared in 30% of Denver’s snaps as a rookie last fall.
So, yeah, it’s safe to say that our old friend No. 31 has seen this movie before. It gets better. He promises.
“It’s very similar to me,” Simmons, the former Broncos All-Pro safety who retired earlier this year after nine seasons in the NFL (2016-2024), told me when I called to ask about Barron. “I’m not trying to compare myself (to him), but when I came into the NFL, I was playing behind the No Fly Zone …
“I had to sit and learn. Even my second year, I didn’t do that well. My third year is when I started to figure it out. The only way to know is to see him and watch him play. I know the coaching staff and (teammates) have confidence in him. And if you ask me as a fan, I would like to see more of him.”
Cornerback Jahdae Barron (23) of the Denver Broncos stretches during practice on Thursday, August. 6, 2026, at Broncos Park in Centennial, Colo.(Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
I’ll second that, especially after the stink bomb the Broncos left on the porch last Friday night against the Packers. Sean Payton already knows what he’s got in Riley Moss, who was playing with his hair on fire this month before being removed from the Green Bay scrum with a rib injury. Same for Patrick Surtain II outside and Ja’Quan McMillian inside.
It’s too early in the film to call Barron, who was selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, an orange and blue bust. Simmons played on 92% of the Broncos’ snaps in his second season, 2017, and his comfort level only accelerated from there. The only way to truly smooth out No. 23’s rough edges is with game reps. And you’ve only got one game left that doesn’t count.
With Moss leaving on Green Bay’s first series last weekend, Barron logged 50 snaps during Week 2 of the preseason. Some were, to put it kindly, stronger than others. The former Longhorn made a nice ankle tackle, only to miss another on Pierre Strong Jr. There was a big hit on Packers QB Tyrod Taylor. Yet with 3:07 left in the first half, the game tied at 10-10, the Green Bay signal-caller got the last laugh.
Faced with a third-and-goal from the Denver 2, Taylor took a shotgun snap. From the left slot, Packers wideout Will Sheppard, the former CU Buff, gave Barron a shove with his right hand as he fired off the line, creating enough separation to gain inside position on a short “out” route toward the near left pylon.
Taylor dropped back three steps and arced a jump ball into the corner over Barron and into the mitts of Sheppard, who appeared to scrape both toes along the turf before the Broncos’ stopper shoved him out of bounds. In hindsight, it was a heck of a grab to finish off a near-perfect lob. And yet while Sheppard looked every bit his listed 6-foot-3, it also made Barron appear a little smaller than the 5-11 in your game program.
“(I can work on) just the tools and learning certain things and adjusting to certain things,” Barron told reporters after the Broncos’ 33-13 defeat. “Just, again, small things like tackling, leveraging, stuff like that.”
It’ll come. On the other hand, the Broncos are in a different place than Simmons found when he’d arrived in Dove Valley. The Super Bowl 50 champs were fading slowly in ’17 and ’18, a franchise in denial, drifting without an owner, direction or accountability. The Broncos of now, by contrast, are on the ascent, a Super Bowl contender trying to cash in on the tail end of a star quarterback’s rookie contract.
“It’s not like Jahdae has been playing bad,” noted Simmons, who’s dropping a new podcast with ex-Broncos teammate and current New York Giant Shelby Harris via Guerilla Sports. “He’s playing well. Like, really well.
“J-Mac is playing (like) one of the best nickel backs in the NFL. Riley is getting targeted because he’s got the best corner in the NFL (Surtain) alongside him — but that doesn’t mean Riley is playing bad; You do want to take away the P.I.s and holding penalties, though.”
Besides a pick-6 off a tip in Atlanta two weekends ago, Barron has yet to show in a game that he’s more reliable on the outside than Moss or Kris Abrams-Draine. Or that he can play as angrily and instinctively as McMillian, who’s becoming to nickel corners what Zach Allen is to defensive ends. PS2 is PS2. The only way to find room in this inn is to break down a steel door.
Simmons’ advice?
“Stick to what you know,” he replied. “You look at the guys in front of him — Moss didn’t start off just getting first-team (snaps) … even Pat, and Pat’s the best corner in the NFL, and Pat was splitting reps (with the first team) his first couple of games. J-Mac (McMillian), the same way.
“Just because you were drafted high and other people are going to put expectations on you, you don’t have to live up to anything. Jahdae, from what I saw (in 2025), is a really good player — super-athletic, and has made impactful plays. I would say, ‘Don’t feel like you need to (try) to reach for anything out of the ordinary, and X, Y, Z.’ I would tell him to keep staying the course, man. There’s nothing wrong with being in a loaded secondary.”
Amen. In the big picture? Barron’s got time. The Broncos don’t.
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