If you’re looking for red flags around your team’s 1st-round pick, what’s going on with the Denver Broncos and 2025 1st-round pick Jahdae Barron is turning into a good example.
Red flag No. 1: You’re headed into your 2nd season, and you’re still not a starter.
Red flag No. 2: You’re headed into your 2nd season, and it’s still not even clear what position you play.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton felt the need to clarify Barron’s role on the team after Tuesday’s practice. In his own unique way, he muddied the waters even more.
“(Payton) cleared up the air and confusion around second-year cornerback Jahdae Barron’s role with the team,” Mile High Report’s Joe Mahoney wrote on Tuesday. “He mentioned that Barron was not playing safety, as someone had floated in an article and on social media the other day.”
Here’s Payton’s actual quote on Barron: “He’s playing nickel, he’s playing corner and then when we get into dime, he replaces a linebacker. So he’s doing really good. There’s been no position change.”
Broncos in Tough Spot With Secondary Trio
The Broncos have found themselves in a difficult spot with their secondary in 2026.
They have 2 veteran players who need to be paid: outside cornerback Riley Moss and slot cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian. Those 2 might be among some of the very best players in the NFL at their respective positions.
McMillian could be in line for a contract that pays him around $10 million per year. Moss, right now, could be between $15-$20 million, but that number will go up if he continues to perform at a high level.
Then you have Barron, who the Broncos took at No. 20 overall in 2025 and signed to a 4-year, $18 million contract. Barron, a Thorpe Award winner, was supposed to be the long-term solution opposite outside cornerback Patrick Surtain II.
Moss had other ideas. Quickly kicked inside to slot cornerback, Barron couldn’t beat out McMillian, who came to the NFL as an undrafted free agent.
Confusion on Barron’s Position Not New Story
The Broncos passed on a handful of legitimate stars who went in the next few picks after Barron, including edge rusher James Pearce (No. 26), safety Malaki Starks (No. 27), NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and inside linebacker Carson Schwesinger (No. 33), and safety Nick Emmanwori (No. 35), the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year runner-up and Super Bowl champion for the Seattle Seahawks.
There were concerns about Barron’s NFL position before the draft.
CBS Sports NFL reporter Chris Trapasso had Barron on his “Buyer Beware” list just days before the draft, calling him out for “tackling problems, misguided thoughts on his ball skills, short arms.”
“For as much as Barron has received the slot cornerback distinction in this pre-draft process — which absolutely is a valuable, starting position in today’s NFL — he did experience his final-season breakout playing on the boundary on exactly 70% of Texas’ defensive snaps,” Trapasso wrote in April 2025. “He doesn’t have outside cornerback length. His arm length is in the 4th percentile at the cornerback spot, regardless of pre-snap positioning. That’s worrisome.”
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