Two Broncos Rookies Poised to Start Week 1 & One Darkhorse

The Denver Broncos have garnered mixed reviews on their 2025 draft class, but as time marches on, the fanbase seems to be soaking in all the information about each player and getting more and more bullish on the group overall.

The Broncos are thrilled with their draft haul. Denver stuck to its big board, even if it didn't jive with the consensus boards used by mocksters in the media and draft-enthused fans. We won't know for at least two years just how well the Broncos made out, but one harbinger that could predict how this class will be viewed in the fullness of time is whether any of its players win starting jobs to open the 2025 season.

I see two drafted rookies with a legit shot at being a starter in the Broncos' season-opener and one darkhorse. Let's dive in.

Jahdae Barron | CB

Denver's first-round pick, Barron is the reigning Jim Thorpe Award winner, given to college football's best defensive back. The Broncos drafted Barron to play. Not next year or down the road, but right away.

Have the brass said it like that? No. But Barron was a player viewed as a top-13 prospect, which gives the Broncos tremendous value at No. 20 overall.

The kid is going to play right away. However, whether that's in a starting role might depend on whether the Broncos envision him on the boundary or in the slot out of the gates.

If it's the boundary, Riley Moss won't go quietly into that good night. Moss had a tremendous second season for the Broncos before he got hurt late in the year.

The four games Moss missed had a brutal trickle-down effect on the Broncos defense, and when he returned, he didn't quite seem to be 100%. But Moss is a great complement to Patrick Surtain II, and the Broncos would be remiss to take him off the field, even though Barron can play on the boundary.

Ja'Quan McMillian, however, didn't turn in an impressive 2024 campaign, although he was far from terrible. Unfortunately, though, he was often exposed as a liability in Denver's coverage, and he didn't rise to the occasion to disabuse opposing quarterbacks and coordinators of that notion.

If the Broncos want to upgrade the day-one defense, putting Barron in the slot between Surtain and Moss on the boundary would be as good as any cornerback trio in the NFL. That would relegate McMillian to a reserve role, but there will come a point in the season where he'll come in handy.

RJ Harvey | RB

The Broncos' let their starting running back defect to the Dallas Cowboys, as Javonte Williams took a one-year, $3 million deal in free agency. That created a massive vacuum in the Broncos' starting lineup.

Harvey is primed to fill it. A second-round pick (No. 60 overall), Harvey rushed for just shy of 3,000 yards over his final two seasons at UFC and at 5-foot-8 and 205 pounds, he's got the muscle to weather the storm as a starting running back.

The second-year Audric Estime does, too, but he lacks the explosiveness, speed, and creativity that Harvey brings to the table. Plus, Harvey is a very talented pass-catcher out of the backfield, and Payton's been dying to find a running back with that skill set to deploy behind burgeoning franchise quarterback Bo Nix.

A relative safe bet would be projecting Harvey as the day-one starting running back in Denver, with Estime as the No. 2 guy, and Jaleel McLaughlin as the No. 3 guy to offer a change of pace.

Darkhorse

Sixth-rounder Jeremy Crawshaw is a near lock to be Denver's punter, but since teams only keep one specialist at punter, kicker, and long-snapper, it's kind of a stretch to call him a starter. But Crawshaw will be the guy, with Matt Haack likely being jettisoned this summer.

Depending on how the defensive line competition shapes up this summer, and how engaged John Franklin-Myers ends up being in the offseason program, third-rounder Sai'vion Jones should be viewed as a darkhorse to start in Week 1.

Do I expect Jones to start right away? No. But stranger things have happened.

Defensive linemen typically take a year or two to ripen on the vine before turning the NFL corner, but Jones has the tools to be a special player. And playing in the SEC at LSU, he brings a lot of high-level experience to the table, competing against some of the nation's best players on a week-in, week-out basis.

The Takeaway

If three of Denver's seven draft picks have a plausible path to start immediately as rookies on a 10-win playoff team, why is the class being viewed with any lens of negativity whatsoever? Dispense with the 'but Denver reached!' tropes, and trust that Payton and GM George Paton knew what they were doing.

Heck, it wouldn't completely shock me if third-round wideout Pat Bryant found his way into a starting role this season because of his work ethic, route-running prowess, and above all else, his elite run-blocking. Coaches put a premium on wideouts who are willing and able to block on the perimeter, which could accelerate Bryant's path to the starting job, but Devaughn Vele and Marvin Mims Jr. will have something to say about that.

The Broncos had to rely on their rookie class and the youth of the roster last year, and it redounded to great success because the team made good draft picks and acquisitions, and the coaches coached their rear ends off. That comfort of trusting the coaches to get these rookies ready could lead to more playing time in 2025 than many pundits might expect.