DENVER — For the man who goes by “Big Baus” on social media, 2020 training camp is his biggest moment.
The competition to be the No. 3 cornerback is wide open, and De’Vante Bausby was one of three different veterans to take first-team repetitions as the third cornerback early in camp, along with Isaac Yiadom and Davontae Harris.
Bausby brings ballhawking instincts that are a perfect fit for what Vic Fangio wants from his defense: takeaways and plays on the ball. Last year, Denver had its lowest interception total in eight seasons. Bausby can change that.
With two interceptions in the last three practices, Bausby is delivering.
“I just see a lot of stuff where he’s off [in coverage],” cornerback A.J. Bouye noted. “He’s reading routes because he wants to have his eyes in the backfield and be able to make plays.”
That suits Bausby perfectly. In the ill-fated Alliance of American Football, he led the circuit with four interceptions before it shut down after eight weeks in 2019. Then he attacked the ball when he got his regular-season shot in Denver, beginning in Week 3 when he relieved a struggling Yiadom. It came to an early end because of a frightening neck injury he suffered in Los Angeles, but the glimpse was enough to compel the Broncos to bring him back.
Last month, in a preview of the cornerback competition, I noted these numbers:
Bausby was clearly targeted 15 times in the 136 snaps of action he saw last year. He registered three pass breakups — one every five opportunities. That was by far the best rate of any Broncos cornerback last year.
Throw in Bausby’s direction and you take your chances. The chances of him using his quickness to successfully make a play on the ball are better than most. Bouye noticed that the moment he began studying the Broncos’ scheme after they traded for him in March.
“He stood out to me when I was studying film of guys last year,” Bouye said. “Just to see him pick it up in camp, he hasn’t left. You can tell he knows the playbook, certain route concepts and he’s very aggressive and he wants to make plays on the ball. You can see what he’s been doing all camp.”
An arduous offseason in which Bausby trained in and around his hometown of Kansas City, Mo. prepared him for the rigors to come. Working with Gary Taylor of GTFitness and Cassius Sendish and Joseph Potts of Top Speed Strength and Conditioning, Bausby sought to not just replicate — but go beyond — what he would do at team headquarters.
“Work, work, work,” Bausby said. “Three days a week, I’d do two-a-days, the other days, I’d do one-a-day.
For an hour or two during each workout, Bausby hit the hills in and around Kansas City.
“I had a love-hate relationship with running hills,” he said. “Hills will get you in shape, but you’re never in shape for the hills, if you get my drift.
“We did a combination of things, but the hardest thing was running them hills,” he added. “We’d have a stick above our head, hit our stride, do those for 10, we do shuffles side to side, backpedal, one-leg hops.”
The workouts left him “soaking-wet hot.” But they also steeled him for what was to come. After those, training camp doesn’t seem so bad. It’s not football work, but …
“All the things I did in the offseason definitely helped me get in shape for practice,” Bausby said.
There is another aspect to Bausby’s opportunity, something that Fangio noted.
“This is the first time he’s had some continuity,” Fangio said. “He should be in the best spot of his career.”
Prior to joining the Broncos, Bausby had never been a continuous part of an NFL team for a full calendar year; he’d never been with a team for more than 355 days in succession.
When the Eagles waived him from their 53-man roster on Christmas Eve of 2018, that marked the 10th time a team had cut Bausby in three-and-a-half years. Immediately after that, Bausby turned to the Alliance of American Football’s San Antonio Commanders. He led that circuit in interceptions with four, earning his Broncos shot.
Now he gets year-to-year carryover.
“I know this scheme like the back of my hand,” Bausby said. It’s a scheme for cornerbacks to make plays, and I’m loving it. I can’t wait to get out there this season, display my athletic ability and make plays. ”
Tuesday marked Bausby’s 500th day as a Bronco. It might not seem like much to a first-rounder who has his path to NFL success paved with gold. But for an undrafted product of Division II Pittsburg (Kan.) State, it feels like a lifetime. More important, it is the the chance of a lifetime.
“If he’s going to show that he belongs in the NFL on a consistent basis,” Fangio said, “this is the year he should do it.”
Fangio added that there is not yet separation in the competition among Bausby, Yiadom and Harris. That’s fine by Bausby.
“I don’t want him to make any decisions any time soon,” Bausby said. “I want him to keep that competition going, because that will bring the best out of all three of us.”
So far, so good.
