Broncos rookie CB Jahdae Barron continues to shrug off reserve role

A few hours after the first interception of his NFL career, Jahdae Barron took to FaceTime. He called Bernard “Bam” Blake, the Texas trainer who’s become something like a brother. He called Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba, the former Texas teammate and close friend. The elation of an end-of-first-half pick hadn’t quite worn off, back in October.

You’re probably the happiest kid in the world right now, Blake recalled telling Barron.

The three have kept a group chat for the majority of Barron’s first year in Denver and Mukuba’s first year in Philadelphia, through the natural ebbs and flows of playing defensive back as an NFL rookie. The Broncos’ cornerback has texted his friends, saying nobody else understands how much film he’s been watching. In Week 8 against the Cowboys — following unfamiliar weeks of limited snap shares and stints on the bench — it all paid off, when he came down with an interception off Dak Prescott.

“I think it was a weight,” Blake reflected, “lifted off his shoulder.”

Barron, a 2025 first-round selection, was shouldered with his own instant-impact expectations. He was “praying on his opportunity” to get his second pick, as Blake reflected in late October.

The chance arrived a month later. Two days before a matchup with the Commanders, as cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch told The Post, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph told Barron in practice he wanted a specific underneath route intercepted.

Two days later, in overtime against the Commanders, that route popped up. Barron read it as Washington wideout Deebo Samuel darted in on a short slant. Barron left his assignment on tight end Zach Ertz, broke on the ball, and dove.

It couldn’t have been a more perfect rep. Except Barron dropped the ball. The rookie put his hands on his helmet, rolled over, and smacked the grass three times with the full force of his right arm.

“He’s getting more in the mix,” Lynch said, a few days later. “He’s getting more in the spot. So those plays are going to come for him.”

That has been the story of Barron’s inaugural season in Denver: a rookie who’s gradually learned to put himself in better positions in Joseph’s defense but has only sparingly found himself in the position to do so.

Six months ago, in a locker room in Santa Clara, Calif., after the Broncos’ first preseason game of the season, Barron told The Post that “everything’s gonna click.” Now, as the Broncos gear up for a postseason run that could take them right back to Santa Clara for the Super Bowl, Barron’s role has mostly stayed static.

After playing heavier doses at the outside corner with Pat Surtain II out in November, Barron snapped right back to playing mostly in dime situations. He’s started the last couple of games of the season at nickel, but has subbed immediately after just one play for Ja’Quan McMillian.

Entering Week 18, Barron’s had the lowest average snap share per game (29%) of the 14 defensive players taken in the first round of April’s draft. On Wednesday, Barron was asked where he feels now compared to that August game in Santa Clara. He didn’t offer up much.

“I mean, shoot, we’re winning, so I’m happy,” Barron told The Post.

Is there a certain part of you, he was asked a minute later, that wishes you were on the field a little more? 

“I mean, it’s human nature,” Barron responded. “I mean, you would want more money, right? So, same answer. Yeah.”

Nobody, Blake emphasized back in October, has higher expectations for Barron than he has for himself. It burned in the slap of his hand against that grass in Washington, a 23-year-old wise beyond his years and yet subject to that human nature.

But Joseph emphasized earlier this season that it’s a luxury to bring Barron along slowly, with McMillian entrenched at nickel and Kris Abrams-Draine proving to be a reliable depth option at outside corner. And cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch has seen a rookie who’s slowly learned to drop those first-round expectations, and just go “play football.”

“He’s not chasing those anymore,” Lynch told The Post in November. “He’s just out here playing his role, playing ball and helping us win the game.”

Blake, for one, hasn’t seen Barron go “into a hole,” as he put it. The hole, for the rookie, is film. Barron entered that game in Week 8 against the Cowboys with a heap of notes on Dallas star tight end Jake Ferguson, Blake said. As Ferguson cut up the seam against Barron at the end of the first half, Barron was already turning his head back to the ball just a split second after quarterback Dak Prescott reared back. That first interception, above all else, was about anticipation.

“He studied that,” Blake said, “to a T.”

After a couple of early-season communication bumps in match coverage, Barron’s visibly improved at reading the middle of the field and passing off assignments. He has also received verbal and emotional support from Abrams-Draine, who’s only one year Barron’s senior and still calls the rookie “little brother.” Barron doesn’t much like that, Abrams-Draine said with a smile.