A player to know at Broncos training camp: Essang Bassey

It doesn’t take long to go from emerging camp star to veteran in a scramble for a roster spot.

For Broncos cornerback Essang Bassey, that happened in under two years.

During the 2020 training camp, Bassey, then an undrafted free agent, became one of the summertime stars. He stuck on the 53-man roster and found himself in extensive work immediately. Bassey played more than half of the snaps in each of the Broncos’ first three games, capitalizing off of a strong summer.

He lost his grip on playing time in Week 4 of 2020, but returned to extensive work several weeks later. The time on the sideline appeared to help him in his return to action. He played with poise.

But now, he’s fighting for a job.

He’s the same Bassey as he was when he emerged and showed promise, especially in November 2020. He played bigger than his size and anticipated passes in his direction well. But the NFL churn can be unforgiving for those who are knocked off track by circumstance. And he finds himself grappling with a crop of young players — including two Day 3 rookies — in his bid to return to Denver’s 53-man roster.

Bassey’s path changed early in the third quarter against Kansas City on Dec. 6, 2020. He made his third career start that day, getting a second chance at the nickelback role after Bryce Callahan’s injury a week earlier. His first pro interception came seven days earlier in a loss to the New Orleans Saints, and he was playing well against the Chiefs.

But three-and-a-half minutes into the third quarter, his left foot hit the Arrowhead Stadium end zone awkwardly as he grappled with Sammy Watkins.

Bassey rose, but his season was over. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. And it would be a long time before he felt back to 100 percent.

“Maybe end of [2021],” he said during minicamp last month.

By then, Bassey was a Los Angeles Charger. He played 19 snaps — including 11 on defense — for the Broncos against the Chargers in Week 12. But the Broncos waived him 20 days later. Los Angeles claimed him off waivers and played him once, then waived him again Jan. 8.

“Maybe when I went to L.A. for those few weeks is when I was like, ‘OK, I’m 100 percent.'” Bassey recalled.

But he was back on the waiver wire by January. A month later, the Broncos brought him back to the place where his career began — and where he recovered from what he called the “first major injury” of his football life.

“It was just a hurdle that I had to get over,” he said. “I think anybody that has a major injury — ACL, Achilles, anything big like that — they’re in dark times. There are hard times where you’re down on yourself.

“But each day — as it goes on — is better than the next. And you’ve just got to keep that mindset. That’s how I tried to approach it when I was going through my process.”

Support from his teammates during the rehab process helped. As he worked to recover from the torn ACL, he wasn’t alone. Courtland Sutton, Albert Okwuegbunam were among those with similar injuries who worked alongside Bassey.

But Sutton and Okwuegbunam were back by Week 1 of last year. Bassey started the season on the physically-unable-to-perform list. His work continued in the shadows as the season progressed.

Even though the Broncos waived him last December, the fact that they brought him back to work under a new coaching staff says something about their belief in him. And the threads that connect Ejiro Evero’s defense to Vic Fangio’s also help Bassey; he isn’t starting from zero.

And Evero listens to players like Bassey who have ideas based on their experience.

“I like how open [Evero] is,” Obviously, similar systems, but we had a lot of things that worked well for us, and I like how open he is to hearing and listening to what we did well, what we like to do. Him incorporating that into our new defense, because it’s really and truly a brand-new defense.

“So, just incorporating some of our old stuff into the new stuff. I think it’s been meshing very well.”

Communication and familiarity help. But the most important factor for Bassey could be the state of his knee. He ditched the brace last year. Now, he says, his left knee is stronger than it was before he tore the ACL.

His goals for training camp are simple:

“Just keep getting better,” he said. “I’m healthy now. My confidence is already up, but [I want to] just keep playing football, being able to run with the guys.”

Whether it’s enough to propel Bassey back to the 53-man roster is to be determined. But in the thicket of a crowded cornerback competition, Bassey has another chance to show that his rookie promise can yield a long-term career.

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