ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — During the first week of Denver Broncos OTAs, it’s been hard not to notice Patrick Surtain II.
Literally.
“He’s about as tall as me. I was out there talking with him and was like, ‘You’re kind of tall man,'” Justin Simmons told the rookie. “[We’re] built very similarly.”
The catch is Simmons is a sixth-year safety. Surtain was born in 2000, just turned 21, hasn’t taken a single snap in the NFL and, most striking, is a cornerback.
Simmons is the biggest defensive back on the Broncos’ roster. Scratch that. He’s now tied as the biggest defense back on Denver’s roster.
The All-Pro safety checks in at 6-foot-2, 202 pounds.
Patrick Surtain II checks in with the exact same measurements. As a rookie.
“There are a couple times where I look over my shoulder just to see who’s out there at receiver, left and right checking out the formation, and I see this guy standing out there,” Von Miller said after just his first OTA playing with the rookie. “I’m like, ‘Bro, this guy is taller than me. Is he supposed to be inside? He’s supposed to be rushing. This guy is supposed to be rushing.’ He’s the real deal and he’s a specimen.”
This praise isn’t just coming from anyone. It’s coming from the specimen himself, Von Miller. At 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, Von’s quads explode over his kneecaps, while at the same time he’s able to bend 90 degrees to duck under offensive tackles.
And yet Von is the one calling Surtain a specimen.
But the praise goes well beyond his NFL-ready stature.
“This Patrick Surtain II, this ‘PS2’ guy, he’s the real deal,” the Super Bowl 50 MVP said in amazement. “He has great feet. I’ve seen Kyle Fuller throughout the years. Playing football, I know what type of player he is, but this Patrick Surtain II up close and personal, he’s the real deal. I’m excited to see what he can be able to do versus all these receivers that we have in our division and all these receivers throughout the league that we’ve got to play [and] have to match up with.”
At Alabama, Surtain II was absolutely the truth. In fact, just last year, he was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, unanimous All-American, First-team SEC and a national champion. According to Von, those honors are transitioning seamlessly to the NFL.
“He’s great,” Simmons added. “He’s a big guy and moves really well. Just really fluid movement. It just seems like there is no wasted movement in his game, which obviously you all know how important that is in the secondary position. I’m really excited for him. I was excited that we got him. I’m excited for him and excited for us to do something special this year.”
A day after using the ninth-overall pick on the stud corner, George Paton pointed to these two exact aspects about Surtain II which make him stick out like a sore thumb. That is, if sore thumbs were a thing of beauty.
“When you turn on the tape, that’s what a corner should look like. They shouldn’t move like he does. He’s long, he’s athletic” Paton stated. “When you watch Patrick, you can get bored because they never throw to him. He only had 48 targets this year. They only completed 21 passes. You love the movement. For a guy this big, he is always in phase. He’s hard to throw at for quarterbacks. That’s what really resonated.”
Two practices into OTAs, Surtain II’s already making his presence felt in a big way. After Monday’s practice, he even got the Vic Fangio stamp of approval, which isn’t handed out like candy on Halloween.
“I’ve been pleased with his work so far, although it’s very early,” the defensive minded head coach said. “The thing I like most about him up to this point—I like his demeanor. I think he’s got an NFL demeanor, especially the type of demeanor you need to play corner in this league. I think he has some versatility which we’re going to need to take advantage of. Everything has been good so far with Patrick, but we were expecting that.”
Denver will need as many cornerbacks as possible. After “scrapping” for defensive backs last year, as Miller put it, Paton has rebuilt and “stacked” the room. Not only did the Broncos use a top-10 pick on the position, they signed two of the top cornerbacks in free agency as well.
“I’ve played with great DBs before—Chris Harris Jr., Aqib Talib, Darian Stewart, T.J. Ward—and this feels like the resurrection of the ‘No-Fly Zone,’ the ‘No-Fly Zone 2.0,’” Von said, pointing to one of the best secondaries of all time. “We’ve got Patrick Surtain, Justin Simmons, Kareem Jackson, Kyle Fuller, Bryce Callahan, and the list goes on… Being a pass-rusher, DBs are my best friends out there. We’ve got a lot of them in there. It should be fun.”
The Broncos do have the potential for a lethal secondary, as Von pointed out. Yet the defensive back already turning heads and receiving all of the praise is the rookie Patrick Surtain II.
