ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Vic Fangio inherited quite the goodie box of shiny stars for his defense when he became the Broncos head coach in January.
Two short months later, John Elway gave him two more expensive studs to work with by signing Kareem Jackson and Bryce Callahan.
Fangio, while not initially expressed publicly, had a plan in place for exactly how the two versatile secondary weapons would each fit into his defense.
It quickly became clear Jackson would primarily play safety, although he has a rich history playing cornerback as well, and Callahan would play both inside corner—where he was exclusively in Chicago with Fangio last year—and outside.
But then that plan was shot in the foot—almost literally.
On July 27, the 10th practice of training camp, Callahan left the team’s practice held at the stadium after his foot was stepped on.
“He got stepped on early in practice—the same foot that he had injured last year,” Fangio said at the time. “Everything’s negative—the X-rays. I think he’ll be fine. We’ll see.”
“I think” being the keywords of that sentence. Callahan was, in fact, not fine. So much so, that the $7 million corner not only missed the majority of the next month and a half of practice, but he was sidelined for Denver’s Week 1 game on Monday night.
“He’s got a foot issue. The same issue that ended his season last year with the Bears,” Fangio reiterated on Thursday when pressed for more details about the corner’s mysterious and lingering injury. “They just tell me it’s a foot [injury]. I know a little it more than that, but it’s a foot that keeps acting up on him and gets sore.”
Callahan missed the final month of the Bears’ season last year after breaking his left foot that required surgery.
The positive news is Callahan did return to practice on Thursday in a limited capacity after sitting out Wednesday’s practice entirely. But the 5-foot-9, 188-pound cornerback also practice in a limited capacity leading up to Week 1 and still missed the game.
So Vic Fangio isn’t banking on No. 29 strapping up on Sunday against both of their former teams. Instead, he’s shaking up his defense, starting with his other secondary offseason acquisition.
In fact, the world saw a glimpse of the shakeup briefly on Monday night.
“Our original plan was to have Bryce play corner and [Chris Harris Jr.] play nickel and when that didn’t surface that way, we moved Chris out and put [Jackson] down,” Fangio explained on Thursday.
“In fairness to [Jackson], he hadn’t had a lot of work at nickel for us. He’s probably had 75 percent of his work at safety since he’s been here, 15 percent at nickel and 10 at corner. It’s unfortunate that he had to come up and play in that first game. But I think he’ll be better for it this game.”
In preparation for Week 2, Fangio’s making sure Jackson gets significantly more practice at nickel during the week, an indication that’s what’s to come on Sunday against Da Bears.
“I think definitely just getting that work in together and getting some more reps for him inside, just communication, I think that’ll help this week,” Chris Harris Jr. said, explaining how Jackson moving to nickel helps the defense.
Although it won’t feel like it since he’s been primarily at safety since coming to Denver in March, Jackson will feel right at home at cornerback since that was his primary position during his nine years with the Texans, including the play he blew up Phillip Lindsay last year.
Kareem moving to nickel might not be the only move to Fangio’s defense in the foreseeable future, either. On Thursday, Harris Jr. said he was willing to play anywhere Fangio wants him to in order to “try and take the pressure off the younger guys.”
Speaking of young guys, Fangio challenged Isaac Yiadom after a rough first game where Derek Carr and Darren Waller attacked him early and often.
“At some point he’s going to have to break some of those up,” Fangio stated, admitting future opponents could look Yiadom’s way after Week 1. “We were rolled up to him a fair amount—I probably should have done it more. You can never roll up to a corner every play of the game and at some point they are going to have to break some of those up.”
If Yiadom continues to struggle, the Broncos won’t look for outside help as they did just that before the start of the season by acquiring cornerbacks Duke Dawson from the Patriots and claiming Devontae Harris off waivers.
“We just have to develop those two guys and get them going,” Fangio stated. “They’re doing well. They’re getting extra meeting time with the coaches. I think they’re picking it up well.
“It’s always tough to come in new once the regular season starts because your game-week preparations and it’s tough to give them ample reps because the guys that are playing want to get them and see the other teams plays, but we’re trying to work them in there more and more. There’s a good chance here these guys may surface here at some point.”
After dropping $18 million per year in the secondary in free agency, and having a total of over $30 million invested in the secondary, Denver didn’t believe their secondary would need much tweaking if any at all.
But after a shaky 0-1 start, Vic Fangio’s not wasting any time.
