ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In some cases, teams try to hide their intent when it comes to targeting a position or taking a specific player. That wasn’t the case for the Broncos and Pittsburgh cornerback Damarri Mathis, who the team chose with the first of its back-to-back fourth-round picks Saturday.
After the second day of the NFL Draft concluded, Broncos general manager George Paton noted that the Broncos would be targeting a cornerback on Day 3. And while Mathis was not one of the team’s “Top 30” visits, the Broncos did show extra interest in Mathis.
For starters, Broncos general manager George Paton took note of Mathis when he saw Pitt host North Carolina last season. Quarterbacks Kenny Pickett and Sam Howell were the focus of that trip, but Paton’s study went beyond the passers.
“It gives you a different perspective. You see them in warmups, see their body types, seeing how, if they get beat, how they react,” Paton said. “I just really liked everything about him in that game.”
The Broncos had what Mathis called a “really good Zoom” meeting with Mathis in recent weeks, but he was still surprised at the call from Denver.
“I just got that call out of nowhere. It kind of scared me a little bit,” Mathis said. “But I was excited. I already knew what team it was. I’m just excited, really, to get there and work and compete.”
Don’t worry about him being “kind of scared,” by his admission. Mathis was talking with his family at the time his phone buzzed.
“That was the first time it rung [during the draft],” he said.
Fortunately, all it takes is one ring.
Now, he’ll compete to be the No. 4 cornerback in a competition headlined by Michael Ojemudia and Essang Bassey. The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder has 4.39 speed and could end up becoming a slot cornerback in the future, although he played on the boundary in college.
“I really don’t emulate anyone. I try to pattern my game after myself,” he said.
Mathis won’t be scared of what he has to face in practice when he joins the Broncos. He had one of the sternest day-to-day challenges in college football each day in practice, facing a potent Pitt passing game featuring a slew of solid receivers with No. 20 overall pick Kenny Pickett at the controls.
“Just going against them, we bring the best out of each other. It’s never no normal practice. We’re just always getting after each other,” Mathis said.
Mathis also showed resilience in working his way back from a torn labrum that cost him the entire 2020 season. He suffered the injury while going through boxing-style training in the offseason to stay in shape.
“My shoulder was already kind of messed up from the season before,” he said. “I just ended up hooking the mitt and then I threw out my shoulder.”
But he was back in 2021, and ended up earning honorable-mention All-ACC honors while allowing a 71.7 passer rating on 66 passes thrown in his direction, per the data compiled by Pro Football Focus.
“I had a good rehab,” Mathis. “I felt like it was one of my best offseasons at Pitt, and then just coming back playing at that high level — it felt real good getting back out there. I didn’t have no troubles or anything with my injury.”
There is plenty of work ahead of Mathis; Paton said that he “needs to clean up some technique.”
“But I think all his flaws are correctable,” Paton said. “This guy’s really, really talented.”
