Why Patrick Surtain II already understands the game “inside and out”

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — With diamond earring in the shape of “PS” dangling from his ears and sporting a light grey suit with a Denver Broncos pin on his left lapel, Patrick Surtain II slowly strutted across the turf inside the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse taking in his new organization’s Super Bowl, Ring of Fame and Hall-of-Fame banners draped along the walls.

On Thursday night, 19 hours before he was on his new team’s practice field, his phone rang. On the other end was a Denver area code. He knew he was joining the Broncos and officially becoming a member of the National Football League.

But the NFL isn’t new to him. He grew up in the league.

“My dad played in the league. I’ve been around the National Football League at a young age,” the 21-year old said during his first in-person press conference as a member of the Broncos on Friday afternoon. “So I’ve sort of got a hang of things, understood the game inside and out. Just being around [my dad], being in the team locker room, being able to experience what it’s like to be around an NFL locker room at such an early age helped mature me in such a way. I just learned each and every day at such an early age and now I’m here at this point.”

Two years before Surtain II was born, his father began his own tremendous NFL career, earning three trips to the Pro Bowl and two All-Pro honors as a star cornerback. The year after his father’s third-straight Pro Bowl season, Surtain II took the field.

“I started playing football at a young age. I started at the age of five,” he said, explaining how football has always been part of his life. “It was something that just resounded with me, just stuck with me. I really started focusing on it when I started getting offers sophomore year of high school. Of course with my dad on my side, just learning from him each and every day. Just talking to him, chopping it up with him helped me a lot to get to this point.”

Hours after selecting the star cornerback from Alabama with his first ever pick as general manager, George Paton stated if Surtain II is half the player his father was, then Denver landed a heckuva player. Despite being a top-1o pick, Surtain II will still lean on his father in the NFL.

“I’m always going to get advice from him,” Surtain II said on Friday, with his dad and mom sitting in Broncos chairs just 10 yards away from their son. “He can always tell me if I’m right or wrong. He’ll go over tape, go over certain things like that just for me to get better.”

Surtain Sr. has already been a tremendous resource for his son. Thanks to his father’s genes and guidance, Surtain II was a five-star recruit out of high school, eventually becoming an Unanimous All-American cornerback in 2020.

“He always told me to stay professional. Stay within the course. Just stay focused on the main thing,” Surtain II said about his father’s advice. “When you look back at it, just always rely on your technique. Never get too complacent because in the league you’re going to have your ups and downs, but always stay focused and learn how to deal with adversity. That’s some of the things that he’s taught me throughout the days. Jsut learning from him each and every day.”

Surtain Sr. isn’t the only NFL star that his son has learned from either. Growing up around the Miami Dolphins for the first fours years of his life, Surtain II found mentors from a few of his dad’s teammates. A few by the likes of Hall of Famer Jason Taylor and All-Pro Sam Madison.

During his father’s tenure with the Chiefs, from 2005-08, Surtain II picked the brain of, and became close with, Hall-of-Fame cornerback Ty Law.

“I learned a lot from them,” Surtain II said about his father’s former teammates and his mentors. “Those guys taught me a lot. The inside and out of the game. Always to stay focused. Stay humble. And just keep on working hard. They told me and that stuck with me ever since then.”

There’s another Hall-of-Fame cornerback that Surtain II has picked the brain of.

“Champ, he was obviously a great corner. An all-time great,” Surtain II said, standing 40 yards away from Champ Bailey’s Hall-of-Fame banner inside the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse. “I talked to him plenty of times before this. He’s a great person as well.”

Along with being taught by the best college football coach of all time, as George Paton dubbed Nick Saban on Friday, it’s no surprise Surtain II is constantly touted as having an incredibly high football IQ.

“The most important thing is know how to handle yourself like a pro because going from college into the league, you have to understand that it’s a business like mentality,” Surtain II said about what he’s learned from his mentors. “Going into the league, you sort of got to move a certain way. Think sort of sophisticated in some ways. They always say just stay with your work ethic. Always be you because you can never go wrong with just always being you. At the end of the day, just staying focused, just making sure you’re prepared right and the main thing is as a rookie, it’s always a good thing to keep your body right. Going in and getting treatment. The extra things you need for your body.”

Starting an NFL career of his own, Surtain II likes to model his game after cornerbacks who have a bigger physique like himself. A few that came to the top of his mind were Jalen Ramsey, Patrick Peterson and Stephon Gilmore, a couple of the NFLs best.

“I sort of like look at cornerbacks with my body type, my frame and have the same elite traits as me. I look at a lot of corners,” he stated. “I just look at their game, some of the elite corners in the league and see how their game can translate into mine and just focus on this.”

With his eyes set on being one of best CBs in the NFL, Patrick Surtain II has all of the tools needed to do just that. And he has the extra advantage of learning from some of the NFLs all-time best throughout the past 17 years of his life.