Under Pressure: The Broncos offseason has put Isaac Yiadom on notice

The Broncos have had a great offseason in 2020. They made some big moves in free agency, they added star talent via trades and then crushed the 2020 NFL Draft. This roster has been upgraded by a wide margin just based on the elite-level talent that has been added this calendar year.

In this new series “Under Pressure,” I’ll look at some of the players who are most under pressure after the moves in free agency and the draft. The talent added to this roster is going to push some players – maybe even some fan favorites – off the roster.

Today, I’ll examine the situation surrounding Broncos cornerback Isaac Yiadom. Let’s see why he’s under pressure in 2020.

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Background

Yiadom was a standout player at Boston College. He showed the ability to work in both zone and man coverages, and he was one of the most aggressive cornerbacks in his draft class. Yiadom stood out for the Eagles due to his physical style of play and high football intelligence. That college career led the Broncos to selecting him in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

As a rookie in 2018, Yiadom was able to play in 13 games and showed some flashes during his first pro season. The ineffectiveness of Tramaine Brock (remember him?) led to Yiadom getting on the field for the Broncos defense, which was also missing Chris Harris Jr. due to a fibula injury late in the season. Yiadom showed toughness in the final games of the season because he was working through a shoulder injury.

He had shoulder surgery a couple of months after the season was over, which made Yiadom’s availability for the offseason – under new head coach Vic Fangio – in question. That basically put him behind for training camp and trying to catch up with his teammates proved to be problematic for the second-year corner.

Yiadom ended up starting eight out of 16 games for the Broncos last year and he was picked on by opposing quarterbacks anytime he was on the field. He was targeted 46 times last year and allowed 30 of those passes to be completed. Yiadom allowed 377 passing yards, but did not allow a receiving touchdown, while also breaking up four passes in 2019. The completion percentage allowed by Yiadom last year (65.2 percent) was the highest rate for any player in the Broncos secondary.

At times, he looked lost on the field, and Yiadom certainly seemed to lack the confidence that he used to play with as a collegian. Yiadom had 42 total tackles in 2019, but he allowed a whopping 11 tackles to be broken or missed last year.

After just two seasons, Yiadom doesn’t look like a bright, young prospect. Instead, he looks like a replaceable-level player.

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The Pressure

The Broncos have added players to the secondary over the past two years. Players acquired in 2019 like Duke Dawson or Davontae Harris should be in line to do more this season, perhaps one of them would even crack the starting (top-three cornerback) lineup.

However, it’s the players added this offseason to the secondary that could really have the largest impact. The Broncos went out before free agency started and traded the Jaguars for veteran cornerback A.J. Bouye. We should see Bouye as the team’s top cornerback in 2020, filling the shoes vacated by Chris Harris Jr.

In addition to trading for Bouye, the Broncos spent a premium pick on Iowa cornerback Michael Ojemudia. With their first pick in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft (No. 77 overall) the Broncos selected Ojemudia with the idea that he could be an eventual starter on the outside opposite of Bouye – perhaps even as soon as the start of this season.

Ojemudia has a reputation of not giving up anything deep as a zone corner on the outside for the Hawkeyes. In 2019, Ojemudia only allowed 1-of-8 passes 20-plus yards downfield to be completed. He’s a smart corner who does a good job of diagnosing plays and keeping up with his man in coverage.

It’s interesting to note that when Fangio was asked about his depth at the corner position after the draft, he didn’t even mention Yiadom’s name.

“I feel good. Obviously, we added Bouye. We took the Iowa corner, Ojemudia. We have a bunch of young players that we acquired last year like Duke Dawson and Davantae Harris. Those guys all need to develop. They are at that stage where they need to prove whether they are worthy or not to play in the NFL and I think two of those guys will come through. We have (Bryce) Callahan coming off of the IR list, so we’ll have a good group to play with,” Fangio said.

I don’t think I’m reading too much into Fangio not mentioning Yiadom by name. It doesn’t mean everything, but it doesn’t mean nothing. It shows that Yiadom is not at the forefront of his coach’s thoughts. That’s got to change, and the pressure is on Yiadom who is no lock for the 53-man roster.

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What He Needs to Do

Yiadom needs to get his coach’s attention, and in a good way! This comes first from something Yiadom has seemed to lose along the way – confidence. Yiadom needs to play with some more swagger on the practice field. He’s going to get burned – every cornerback does – but Yiadom needs to have a short memory and not let bad plays stick with him too long.

We’ll have to see him tackle better in games, as well. Yiadom should get plenty of work in the preseason. Top players barely play in the preseason opener, they play about a drive or two in the second preseason game, then they play a half in the third preseason game before shutting it down completely for the preseason finale. Since Yiadom is not one of those top guys on the depth chart, he’s going to have plenty of opportunity to showcase his talent.

The good news is that all jobs seem to be open in the secondary according to Fangio. After the draft, Fangio commented on how Ojemudia could start right away for the team.

“That’s up to him. Everything’s open. Competition is there. We’ll play the guys that deserve to play regardless of the year, whether they are a rookie, veteran or in between. He has the right to come in here and compete and earn a job,” Fangio said.

If that’s not going to be Ojemudia, or if he’s going to take some time to get up to speed, then perhaps Yiadom can take advantage of an opportunity that may not be there for him much longer.

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