The Denver Broncos used their top pick last year on cornerback Jahdae Barron, and they're hoping he's better in 2026.
The Denver Broncos were expecting big things from cornerback Jahdae Barron when he was drafted in the first round last year, but it hasn’t happened for him so far. Other secondary players have stepped up, and there was some turmoil in the room when cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch was unexpectedly fired after the season.
Barron isn’t a bust yet, and but he is currently considered a disappointment around the league. A couple of coaches want to change that, including Brennan Marion, who was the receivers coach at Texas when Barron was a cornerback there.
He recently met with Robert Livingston, who’s now the Broncos’ new defensive passing game coordinator, and they ended up breaking down some tape and swapping ideas about Barron, who played just 17 snaps in two playoff games during the postseason.
“He was obviously upset,” Marion said of Barron in a piece written by Luca Evans of the Denver Post, “from the standpoint that, he wanted to have a better year.”
The Broncos want Barron to stop thinking so much on the field, and that’s where Livingston enters the picture.
“I’m sure he can teach (Jahdae) how to play the position a little more instinctually,” Marion said. “The thought process of, ‘OK, they’re in 13-personnel, it’s 3rd-and-3, this is what plays are coming.’ Or, ‘They’re in 11-personnel, 3rd-and-8, this is what plays are coming.’ And they’ll be able to play a little bit faster, with the knowledge that Rob has.”
Coach Sean Payton sees Barron as a nickel corner who can flex outside, and the reality is that the cornerback simply experienced many of the ups and downs that come with a typical rookie year. Barron has had some good games, but he ended up calling Marion late one night after a sloppy loss to the Washington Commanders when the secondary got lit up by quarterback Marcus Mariota.
“One week he’s riding high and thinks like, ‘Man, I’m killing it,'” Marion said. “And the next week, he’s like, ‘[Expletive], Coach — I messed up on this situation, I messed up here, I was supposed to be on this guy.'”
None of the errors were glaring, according to Evans, but cracking the Denver secondary is a tough task. Barron will get a big opportunity this coming season as Livingston tries to decide whether to play cornerback Jaleel McMillian, who made some big plays but will enter this season on a one-year tender, or veteran corner Riley Moss.
There’s an opportunity at hand for Barron, but he’ll need to level out his play and make the kinds of plays the Broncos often got from McMillian and become an every-down player rather than just a guy who’s part of a sub package.