The key to Patrick Surtain stepping up as a starter while Ronald Darby is injured

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Patrick Surtain had all of one week to gradually take the giant leap from college ball to the NFL.

But only one week.

After Ronald Darby’s hamstring tear landed him on the injured reserve, Surtain’s slow transition to the NFL was tossed out the window. The first-round cornerback will be thrown into the NFL fire, starting on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“He’s proven that he can play at the highest level with the best of them his whole football career,” Justin Simmons stated on Wednesday. “Playing in the NFL, really for him, is going to be no different.”

Despite being a rookie, Surtain will “just go right in for Ronald” at the starting outside corner spot opposite Kyle Fuller in the Broncos’ defense, Vic Fangio stated without hesitation on Wednesday.

Instead of playing just 16 snaps, as he did in Week 1, Surtain will be close to 100 percent of the defensive snaps for the Broncos in his second-career NFL game.

The plan for Surtain’s gradual entrance into the NFL was for him to play in dime packages and then get “a couple of plays at [outside] corner,” he revealed on Wednesday. In Week 1, the plan went as planned. But as long as Darby is sidelined, the rookie will stay at outside corner, no matter what defensive package Denver is in.

Fortunately, the key to success for the No. 9-overall pick is simple, straightforward and Surtain.

“Just be you,” Justin Simmons said, when asked what advice he gave to the rookie. “Do what has got you here.”

All-Pro Kyle Fuller and veteran cornerback Ronald Darby echoed those same words to the talented rookie about what he needs to do to be successful as a starter.

“They just said be me,” Surtain said on Wednesday. “Just go out there and play with confidence and just play full speed. That’s all they said to me.”

The message didn’t need to be complicated. As Simmons mentioned, Surtain’s career at the University of Alabama speaks for itself. Just last year, the 6-foot-2, 202-pound cornerback was First-team All-SEC, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and an Unanimous All-American. In 2021, he became a national champion at Alabama and a Top-10 pick in the NFL Draft.

Now in the NFL, Patrick Surtain doesn’t need to change who is he one bit. And while he no doubt benefited at Alabama by being surrounded by plenty talent on the defensive side of the ball, he’ll have that exact same advantage in Denver.

“He’s got a great pass rush. The ball is going to be having to come out fast. He’s got guys like Kareem and myself to be able to kind of direct traffic and make sure he’s comfortable,” Simmons said, explaining the help the rookie will have. “And communication is going to be the biggest thing that’s going to keep him at ease. Any part of him being out there in large part is not just on him, it’s on us as a secondary. And we’ve got to be able to make sure that we’re doing all that we can to help him.”

Fortunately, it isn’t as if Surtain has been on the sidelines working exclusively with the second-team defense since he was drafted in the spring. Working in at dime and nickel, the rookie has been on the field with the starting defense a lot over the past few months.

“One of the things I was thankful for was during training camp, and [other] times, that we’ve been able to really grow that relationship with Pat. I think we’ve done such a good job of just rotating and then communication in the meeting room is huge too,” Simmons said, explaining how Surtain is not behind on the defensive communication.

“You’re only going to get an X amount of reps on the field and so you’ve got to be able to make sure that communication transfers over into the film room and that’s where a lot of the communication with Pat has been,” Simmons continued. “I think he’s going to be great. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for him at all. He has his head on his shoulders the right way. I’m excited for him for this opportunity.”

Of course, in his limited play against the Giants, Surtain did give up a 37-yard touchdown to Sterling Shepard. On Wednesday, the rookie stated he should have known that route was coming and he could have “squeezed” it better to not have allowed the receiver to have so much space after the catch.

The rookie’s first NFL start on Sunday will come against a familiar quarterback too. In 2018, Surtain and Alabama fell to Trevor Lawrence and Clemson 44-16 in the College Football National Championship game. Both 2021 first-round picks started that game as freshman.

“Both young pups,” Surtain said, reminiscing about the championship game. “He got the edge on us. We had our fair share of battles here and there.”

Surtain and Lawrence will face each other for a second time in their careers on Sunday, this time as rookies in the NFL. The Broncos are certain that Surtain is the right man to replace Darby. They just need Pat to be Surtain.