The Denver
Broncos team has been built off tough players and hard workers, showing up
& standing on business. When you
look at the history of the Denver Broncos players, coaches, and management,
there aren’t really that many people who have been detrimental to
the team through any form of media, whether online social media or with the
press. Denver hasn't had players that level of vocal cockiness to
them. The players there usually
take a more conservative outlook regarding anything that goes on in-house
or anything personal. Broncos country
usually doesn’t draft or sign the flashy type of players that are normally superstar-type players, not because they dislike those players or because of their abilities out on
the field. The men they usually bring in are all about their business, football! You won't find many players in their history who are concerned with their own personal
agendas or making sure their stats come first before the team's success.
To the casual sports fan,
when you really think about it, outside of the Denver Nuggets winning the NBA
Championship in 2023 and the Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup in 2022, the Colorado Buffaloes had been the most popular team discussed within
the sports world recently outside of the state of Colorado. Even that being said, let’s be honest here,
if Coach Prime (Deion Sanders) wasn’t the Head Coach of the Colorado Buffaloes
they probably wouldn’t be discussed as widely as they’ve been recently. Some of the Bronco’s all-time greats were not the most vocal players, like Champ Bailey, Terrell Davis, Rod
Smith, Demaryius Thomas, or Ed McCaffrey. Even current Broncos Pro Bowl wide
receiver Courtland Sutton or All-Star cornerback Pat Surtain II just leave it
all out on the field and don’t seem to get too involved with all the antics involved with pre-game and post-game smack talk.
With a player like
Surtain this is exactly the type of player you’ll receive, he's more of a quiet and highly effective guy on the field. Pat Surtain II is an elite NFL cornerback who's known for making his presence felt through physical gameplay that also possesses an elite-level football IQ. Pat has great awareness
and good communication with the rest of the defense when playing in zone d. He is great at wrapping up when tackling opponents in
the open field and has great size and
length combined with the ability to go up and get the ball at the highest point. At Alabama, Surtain II started 38 of 41 games for the Roll Tide. He recorded 117
tackles (82 solos), four interceptions (69 yards, 1TD), 27 passes defensed, four
forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries in three seasons as their top corner. He was named as the defensive MVP of the 2021
Rose Bowl. The Denver Broncos drafted
Pat Surtain II ninth overall in the 2021 NFL draft.
His rookie
NFL season marked a great good one, as he started 16 games. Pat mustered up 58 total tackles, which was
16 more than he’s ever accomplished in a single season up to this point in his
football career. The star defensive back
also managed to pull down four interceptions with 14 passes defended. Upon Surtain’s second season, he played in 17
games as opposed to 15, (2022 NFL added an extra week) posting 60 total
tackles, 2 interceptions, 10 passes defended, 1 forced fumble, 2 tackles for
loss, & 1 QB-hit. Surtain received a Pro Bowl nod while being named an All-Pro in his second season. Year three was also a pretty good season for
the young corner who set a new career high in both total tackles & solo
tackles. Pat tallied 69 combined tackles
(59 solo), 1 interception, and 12 passes defended on his way to his second Pro
Bowl selection.
PS2 is notorious for his
ability to shut down passing lanes anywhere around him, no matter if you’re an
average receiver or even if you are Davante Adams. Having him on your defense is like a cheat code, thus his nickname PS2. Just ask Superstar receiver Davante Adams of
the Las Vegas Raiders, who was held to just 2 receptions on a total of 11 yards
in last season’s week one matchup against Surtain and the Broncos. In this matchup between Adams & Surtian,
he shadowed Davante 61.5% (16/26 snaps) while Adams was only targeted 5 times
and Pat had 3 passes defensed. This is exactly why Pat doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to make plays on the
ball and probably won’t wind up with a large number of interceptions since NFL QBs tend to stay away from Surtain’s side of the field. There was a stat for his rookie season that
said he had only allowed a 10.7 passer rating to QBs in man coverage, throwing
the ball in the dirt every play gets a passer rating of 39.6. Next Gen Stats shows that this season Pat has allowed just 15 catches for 148 yards on 198 routes run against him by opponents' top receivers. Even in Denver's Monday Night matchup against the Browns, his old Alabama & Broncos teammate Jerry Jeudy only caught 2 passes for 20 yards when covered by Surtain.
The Denver Broncos certainly have a top-three cornerback in Surtain, though I’d argue he’s number one. Though the way he has played this year, I don't think there would be a whole lot of arguing there. The Denver Broncos locked Pat up in the long term, inking him to a new
four-year contract extension before the start of this season, paying him $96 million with $77 million guaranteed This deal pays Surtain a yearly amount of
$24 million, which now makes him the highest paid defensive back in the NFL by
about three million (2nd is Antoine Winfield Jr. $21.025). PS2 is a staple to this defensive unit and team in totality and is just one reason the Denver Broncos are playoff-bound this season. He became tied for 11th in
terms of annual salary for all defensive players. Oh, and the extension keeps Pat tied to the
Broncos for the next six seasons so good luck to the rest of the league that must
face this man because it’s never an easy task.
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