The Denver Broncos rotated cornerbacks during a stretch of Sunday Night’s win against the Washington Commanders, which has drawn a lot of conversation on social media, but there’s nothing to really read into right now surrounding it.
Patrick Surtain II returned to the fold for the first time since Week 8 after he suffered a pectoral injury, and he played all 90 defensive snaps (100%) on Sunday.
Opposite of Surtain, Riley Moss played 77 defensive snaps (86%) and had several pass breakups, but also had a series where he wasn’t on the field, and second-year cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine was.
Abrams-Draine played 12 total defensive snaps (13%), and that was primarily limited to the second quarter.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton said after the game that there was nothing significant behind the rotation, but that he wanted to keep guys ‘game ready.’
“It’s a good question,” Payton said. “I know we were trying to, you know, when Patrick [Surtain] comes back, and then you have these other [guys], it was more about keeping these guys in game form. And I knew that we were going to try to. There was nothing; it was more about the rotation of just keeping them all going.”
As the second half climb continues, the Broncos are still going to rely a lot on Moss, Abrams-Draine, and rookie Jahdae Barron inside of the cornerback rotation, but Sunday’s series off for Moss isn’t something to look into.
In the weeks ahead, the Broncos are going to face the Jacksonville Jaguars, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Los Angeles Chargers, who all have unique sets of wide receivers, which could mean that every cornerback will play an important role from a matchup perspective.
