Broncos' CB Patrick Surtain II is Starting Early on Studying 2022 WR Opponents
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It’s funny how quickly all the background noise about the Denver Broncos passing over quarterbacks to select Patrick Surtain II has suddenly quieted. Of course, without Broncos' GM George Paton's masterstroke to acquire quarterback Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks, the Surtain debate would still rage on.
As it stands, the Broncos got their elite quarterback, and the team also has a second-year corner with a skill-set that could enable him to become a future All-Pro. The manner in which Paton has maneuvered strategically to improve the Broncos has been impressive.
Surtain now forms part of a secondary that could round into an elite NFL unit, and the former Alabama standout expects that as a group, the Broncos can have a major impact in 2022.
“I expect tremendous play out there,” Surtain declared on Thursday. “We have tremendous talent on the perimeter and on the inside, so it should be a very exciting year. We’re going to make a lot of plays and we’re going to be ballhawks, so it should be very fun.”
Such is the very nature of playing out on an island as a cornerback, that having the book on the receiver lining up opposite is the Holy Grail of success. Given that the Broncos' players will disperse for six weeks after the conclusion of OTAs, studying his 2022 opponents will become a major focus for Surtain until training camp opens in late July.
“You start on it early, before training camp, before we start on that phase of training camp,” Surtain explained. “Just keeping an eye on them, keeping an eye on tendencies, looking at route concepts—all of that—and what they like to do. That’s what I’ll be able to do.”
Part of Surtain’s ongoing NFL education will come from some battles he'll be fated to lose, even if he's often still draped all over the receiver. That’s just part and parcel of the world cover corners inhabit, so having that short memory and inherent ability to dust himself down has to be standard issue equipment.
That kind of mental strength has been tested by facing up to the challenges that Surtain's own superstar quarterback intensively presented during the Broncos' recent OTAs. Surtain only sees the positive sides of going head-to-head with Wilson, who can go off script at any point and plunge a dagger into the defense.
“He’s very dynamic,” Surtain said of Wilson. ”His second-play mentality where he’s making something out of nothing with his scrambling ability—that’s something that defences may fear. His ability to utilize his legs and create plays on his own—that’s something special about him.”
Luckily for Surtain, facing up to the unique challenges that Wilson presents is confined to the practice field and not under real-game conditions for the foreseeable future.
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