{"id":123122,"date":"2025-06-12T04:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T04:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/123122\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T04:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T04:23:10","slug":"no-one-is-going-to-outrun-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/123122\/","title":{"rendered":"No one is going to outrun me"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Ted Lasso were a cornerback<\/a>, he\u2019d be Riley Moss.<\/a> A sword of steel and stubborn, sheathed in a smile. The kind of serial killer you bring home to Mom and Dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one is going to outrun me,\u201d the third-year Broncos cornerback told me after minicamp, which wraps up Thursday<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s just trusting my eyes, trusting my leverage, and being physical at the line and slowing these guys down. They always say, you can either be good, or you can be great. I want to be great. That\u2019s what\u2019s going to make me great.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wondered what it was like to have every QB1, at the start of every game, always looking your way first. To have every offensive coordinator circling your jersey on Wednesdays. To be opposite Pat Surtain II, the best defensive player in the NFL. To be the most picked-on man in pro football.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe a goldfish. Just be a goldfish,\u201d<\/a> Moss replied. \u201cI\u2019m going to get beat. They\u2019re going to catch a ball. They get paid, too. And as much as I want to be perfect, I can\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I can\u2019t allow something negative to affect you the next play. And that\u2019s kind of the mentality, (where) I\u2019m going to go out and I\u2019m going to give it my all and I\u2019m going to ball out. And if you beat me? \u2018OK, good for you, dude. Let\u2019s go again. I\u2019m going to get you again.\u2019 It\u2019s just a short memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Lasso, Riley Moss believes. In Vance Joseph. In Sean Payton. In Bo Nix. In PS2. In Jahdae Barron<\/a>. In Broncos Country. In division titles. In playoff home games. In himself.<\/p>\n

He added 10 pounds to his frame over the winter. At least seven or eight of those were lean muscle. All the better to bang with.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Being) a little more physical out there and (being able to) jam at the line is the biggest goal (for this season),\u201d Moss stressed. \u201cAnd the biggest takeaway from last year, for sure, is being more physical with these receivers. And that starts with the weight room and with speed and agility.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, Moss found a perfect workout partner and meathead muse back in Des Moines. Enter Jake Hummel, a former Iowa State linebacker who\u2019s now with the Baltimore Ravens,<\/a> a friend and confidant Riley lovingly calls a \u201cpsychopath in the weight room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hummel laughed at that one.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think (he) might be at a delusional level of confidence,\u201d the Ravens defender told me by phone this week. \u201cI mean that in the best (light), as a compliment. Because I think you need that.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially at cornerback, where, because it\u2019s such an \u2018island\u2019 position, and it\u2019s so obvious when things go wrong. To be able to bounce back from (the) bad, you need that ability to bounce back from bad plays. Still have that confidence that you\u2019re the best \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the perfect guy to have opposite Pat Surtain II, I\u2019ll put it that way. He\u2019s ready for every ball thrown to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even curveballs. While the universe pegged the Broncos to draft a running back or a tight end with pick No. 20 in late April, they chose a defensive \u201cJoker\u201d instead. Payton and GM George Paton snapped up Barron, the do-everything Texas cornerback and reigning Jim Thorpe Award winner. Best player on the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best thing now is, It\u2019s great competition, and it\u2019s only going to make him better. It\u2019s only going to make me better,\u201d Moss said of Barron. \u201cIt\u2019s only going to make J-Mac (slot corner Ja\u2019Quan McMillian) better. It\u2019s only going to make Pat better. That\u2019s naturally what happens, and I think it\u2019s going to be good for our football team. And even better for our room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood dude?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing a great job, fitting into our room really well in terms of just personality,\u201d Moss replied. \u201cHe\u2019s a really good dude, and he\u2019s got a good personality. So it\u2019s nice to have a guy that outside of football you can get along with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moss was coming off the busiest season \u2014 Pro Football Focus charted the ex-Iowa star as facing the 10th-highest QB target rate (18.01%) last fall among starting NFL corners \u2014 of his football life. Over the three December games the former Hawkeye missed with a knee issue, the Broncos gave up an average of 300 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and 26.3 points. And his bosses were already grooming a potential replacement?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the main thing is building depth, and having a room that if someone goes down, the next man up can perform,\u201d Moss said. \u201cWe got caught in that last year, and we can\u2019t get caught like that, especially the way our defense plays. We can\u2019t change our scheme up because one certain guy goes down. So I think it helps having depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, yeah,\u201d I said, \u201cthat Cleveland game \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it (stunk). It (stunk). And as a competitor, it (stinks),\u201d Moss countered. \u201cYou hate to give up that many points (32). Thank God we won the game. But obviously, as a competitor, it (stinks) being sidelined and watching plays that you could be making. So I think that was the biggest thing. Hopefully, that doesn\u2019t happen again. Stay healthy and roll through this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, so good. Over a couple weeks in shells and shorts, \u00a0Moss has remained at his usual starting CB2 slot on the outside of the Broncos\u2019 defense. And Payton, more to the point, remains a fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re opposite of (PS2), you\u2019re getting a lot of traffic, and (Moss) rose to the occasion,\u201d the coach said earlier this week. \u201cHe\u2019s someone who\u2019s extremely smart. So studying splits, all the things that allow you to have a chance to be a pretty good corner \u2026 he\u2019s having a good offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riley Moss believes. It\u2019s why he\u2019s unabashedly corny, even by Iowa standards. It\u2019s why he can\u2019t wait for another crack at Cincinnati\u2019s Joe Burrow, who threw for 412 yards against the Broncos last December. Another crack at Tee Higgins, who\u2019s still running to daylight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found out we\u2019re playing the Bengals this year. Right? That\u2019s circled in my house,\u201d Moss said. \u201cBecause as a competitor, you have to be (like that). At our position, you have to be.<\/p>\n

And obviously, that game (stunk). There\u2019s no excuse. If I\u2019m out there, I\u2019ve got to do my job. I\u2019m going to be a lot more ready to roll this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Moss smiled, his eyes burned. Some wounds, even a goldfish never forgets.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: June 11, 2025 at 7:52 PM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Ted Lasso were a cornerback, he\u2019d be Riley Moss. A sword of steel and stubborn, sheathed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[184,925,232,7244,5748,85,231,258,2426,7,1272,521,8233,1006,1577,929,926,6,3267,1514,5295,1813,9,2833,51,2832],"class_list":{"0":"post-123122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-bo-nix","10":"tag-broncos","11":"tag-broncos-country","12":"tag-broncos-takes","13":"tag-cleveland","14":"tag-denver","15":"tag-denver-broncos","16":"tag-denverbroncos","17":"tag-football","18":"tag-george-paton","19":"tag-iowa","20":"tag-jaquan-mcmillian","21":"tag-jahdae-barron","22":"tag-joe-burrow","23":"tag-latest-headlines","24":"tag-more-broncos-news","25":"tag-nfl","26":"tag-pat-surtain-ii","27":"tag-riley-moss","28":"tag-sean-keeler","29":"tag-sean-payton","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-sports-columnists","32":"tag-texas","33":"tag-vance-joseph"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114668490331110001","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}