Veteran Safety Is Unsung Hero In Broncos Secondary

We’ve heard a lot about safety Talanoa Hufanga in the last couple of weeks, especially after his pair of interceptions in the Denver Broncos’ 30-26 win over the Los Angeles Rams. But his running mate in the back of the secondary, Brandon Jones, is healthy and making plays again as the senior member of the unit, according to a writeup from Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post. 

Jones is playing his seventh NFL season, and he’s in his third in Denver . The safety is in the final of a three-year, $20 million deal, and Gabriel added that it’s turned into a substantial bargain for the Broncos. 

He’s also now the elder statesman. Jones has the longest tenure of any defensive back on Denver’s 53-man roster, and he and fellow safety  Taylor Rapp, who was signed to the practice squad last month, are the oldest at 28. 

Jones was out with a torn pectoral muscle, and he said he’s happy to be back. He’s even happier about the extraordinary communication he’s developed with Hufanga, which has helped give the Broncos one of the best secondaries in the NFL. 

Jones has also turned into something a tackling machine in the back end. He’s now second on the team with 31 tackles, trailing only Alex Singleton, who has 47. Jones’ 21 solo tackles are nearly twice as many as anybody else on the defense aside from Singleton, who also leads the team with 22 in that department. 

They bring a two-pronged approach to the job, per Gabriel and Jones. The first is to avoid missed tackles, an isssue the Broncos have cleaned up after losing their opener, 31-10, to the Kansas City Chiefs. After that they focus on punching the ball out, but Jones has gotten a reputation as one of the best open-field tacklers in the league. 

Jones also says he’s fine with the other members of the secondary getting the lion’s share of the publicity, as Hufanga, Pat Surtain and Riley Moss are usually the first back-end names to get mentioned.

But the safety will be in the spotlight on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers for reasons that are beyond his control. Surtain and Moss have both been ruled out for the Chargers game which mean Hufanga and Jones will be responsible for cleaning up any mistakes made by new starters Jahdae Barron and Kris Abrams-Draine. Controlling the Chargers offense will be essential to get a win, and producing turnovers is also an important goal.