The die was cast on the Broncos spending money, draft capital or both at cornerback the moment they released A.J. Bouye last month. So, it came as no surprise that their first big import of the free-agency period was at the position.
It was a mild surprise that it was Ronald Darby, a seven-year veteran who played 2020 for the Washington Football Team after a three-season hitch (2017-19) in Philadelphia and two earlier campaigns with the Buffalo Bills, who drafted him in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft.
Darby flourished in man-coverage work for Washington last year, and now will go to a defense that emphasizes zone. But the Broncos wouldn’t add Darby if they didn’t think he could flourish in Vic Fangio’s scheme.
As then-Eagles safety Corey Graham told The [Harrisburg, Pa.] Patriot-News during Eagles camp in 2017, it was his work in man coverage during his Bills years that made him attractive to Eagles in 2017 after Bills coach Sean McDermott installed a zone-based scheme upon becoming the Bills’ head coach that year.
“You got to factor in defenses,” Graham said. “Buffalo, it’s cover three, man. You can put anybody out there. Stay over the top, that’s all you’re doing.
“Why would you have [cornerbacks] like Ronald and Stephon Gilmore out there, paying them all this type of money, when you can put a safety out there and just say, ‘Stay high.'”
Indeed, one of McDermott’s first decisions was to let Gilmore walk in free agency; he signed with the New England Patriots five months before the Bills dealt Darby to Philadelphia for wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a third-round pick.
Darby responded to the swap with some of his best work in contributing to the Eagles’ first championship in 57 years. The 72.3 passer rating he allowed on passes thrown in his direction — as calculated by Pro Football Focus — was the highest of his career. He also missed eight games that season due to injury, which has been a common theme of his career; he didn’t finally play a full 16-game season until 2020 and has missed an average of 3.5 games per season.
The injury rate is the one aspect of his resume that is alarming, given that their incumbent No. 1 cornerback, Bryce Callahan, has missed 26 of his last 36 games (including playoffs) dating back to his 2018 season under Fangio in Chicago.
Still, the Broncos can breathe easier now with perhaps their most pressing need off the list. Prior to agreeing to terms with Darby, their cornerback corps looked as thin as a promise in the wake of their release of A.J. Bouye.
Now — although the afore-mentioned injury histories of Callahan and Darby are notable — the Broncos have a quartet atop their depth chart with which they can work: Darby, Callahan, Michael Ojemudia and Essang Bassey, who fared well as a slot cornerback before suffering a torn ACL in December.
Darby’s arrival does not take the Broncos out of the mix for a first-round cornerback. But it means they have options.
They will not go into Round 1 knowing that they need to find an immediate starter, come hell or high water. They have flexibility to adapt to how the draft board falls — and, most importantly, the ability to trade down, accumulate more picks for this year and next year and not be in a position where they have to reach on a cornerback whose value might not match their draft position.
It would still come as no surprise if the Broncos selected Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II or Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley at the No. 9 spot. But now the Broncos have the freedom to explore any and all options — including ones that take them out of the mix for a plug-and-play every-down cornerback.
Of course, barely two-and-a-half hours after the Darby news broke, we learned that the Broncos would decline their option on Kareem Jackson, making him a free agent and ending his time with the Broncos after two seasons that were perhaps the best of his career.
So as one need is filled, another is created. But there are options on the free-agent market to replace Jackson for a fraction of the cost, any of which would ensure that the Broncos don’t head into April with a pressing need at safety, either.
Creating maximum flexibility and options heading into the draft is likely to be a defining feature of the Broncos’ offseason, and Darby has a huge role in that, even though his regular-season debut in orange and blue remains just under six months away.
