The ‘why' that fueled DB Jahdae Barron's climb to a first-round pick by the Broncos

New York Times

28-04-2025

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — To know Jahdae Barron is to know his dream. The one he began writing down on paper and reciting in the mirror a decade ago. The one he shares with anyone who comes into his orbit, from the equipment managers at Texas to the owner of the Denver Broncos. You can bet everyone inside the overflowing rented house on the shores of Lake Travis outside Austin during Barron's draft party last week had heard him vocalize the vision over and over.
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They all knew he was going to buy Techonia Davis a house. He was going to 'give her the world back,' as Barron put it, after his mother for years worked two jobs to unearth every opportunity she could for Barron and his five siblings.
'His mom is his rock and his mom is his why,' Michael Huff, the former Texas safety who has been one of Barron's mentors since he joined the Longhorns in 2020, told The Athletic. 'A lot of people don't know what their why is. Seeing how hard she worked, day in and day out, whether it's getting his degree or going to the NFL, everything he does is for his mom.'
When the Broncos selected Barron with the No. 20 pick in last week's NFL Draft, he felt compelled to share that dream with a room full of coaches, scouts, executives and support staff who had played some part in helping him realize it. He asked to be put on speakerphone. The room quieted. By selecting Barron in the first round, he said, the organization had changed his mother's life.
Never in Sean Payton's more than 20 years in draft rooms as a head coach or coordinator had he seen a similar scene unfold.
'I just felt the need in my heart to tell everybody, 'Thank you,'' Barron said.
The last year has felt like storybook stuff for the do-it-all defensive back, but none of this was preordained. Fifteen months ago, Barron sat in an office with Huff, a one-time Broncos defensive back himself, and discussed the decision ahead. Barron could enter the NFL Draft. He could hear his name called late on Day 2 or somewhere on Day 3 and dive into the professional career that awaited him. He could begin building Techonia's house. Barron, after all, had already been in Austin longer than he envisioned when he arrived in 2020.
'I struggled at times, wanting things on my time,' Barron said. 'Three years back, kind of just looking back at it, wanting to be three (years in college) and done and things like that. Wanting to win the Jim Thorpe (Award) and just all these things. I had to understand and just mature. It's not on my time, it's on God's time and His timing is perfect.'
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Barron decided to defer the dream for one more year, knowing it could blossom under the expansive Texas sky. He made another decision, with Huff's blessing. Barron had honored his late friend Tardrick 'Trollie' Fowler, who died just before the defensive back's freshman season in Austin, by wearing Fowler's No. 23. Heading into his final season, Barron wanted to honor another legacy, that of Huff's, who won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back during his senior season two decades earlier.
'We were just looking at the bigger picture, looking at the future, and one of the things that came up was him possibly wearing 7,' Huff said. 'I was like, 'Oh!' It was kind of an honor for someone to want to wear 7 and live up to my legacy, but for me, I told him the moment he put on 7, I wanted him to be greater than me. I didn't want him to go out there and be Michael Huff. I wanted him to put on the 7 and create his own legacy in it. I definitely think that's what he did.'
Barron finished his final season in Austin with five interceptions, 11 passes defensed and too many big plays to count. He made them from all angles, out of nearly every defensive alignment. It helped that Huff was in his corner, constantly demanding more from the new No. 7.
'If I had a pick and I didn't take it for (a touchdown), he would be like, 'I would've taken it for six,'' Barron said of Huff, whose final NFL game was the Broncos' AFC championship victory against the New England Patriots in 2013. 'So he was always just in my ear messing with me. He was a big mentor.'
Y'all ready for this? Our very own Thorpe-winner, Jahdae Barron, kicked off the season in style with an interception that would make any cornerback jealous! He snagged it and took off for a 30-yard return like he was on a Sunday stroll.
Texas Longhorns vs. Colorado State Rams… pic.twitter.com/3x3mt0EgIM
— Longhorn🤘Highlights (@LonghornClips) January 13, 2025
The Broncos treated Barron's film sessions like Blockbuster movie night, rewinding and replaying their favorite scenes as they envisioned him in a secondary that includes defensive player of the year Pat Surtain, another former Texas standout at safety in Brandon Jones and tenacious new safety Talanoa Hufanga.
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Barron won the Jim Thorpe, checking off another goal he would recite into the mirror each morning.
The dynamic play on the field, though, was only part of the impact Barron made during his transformative final season at Texas, the one that set him on a firm path to the first round. Huff would walk through the Texas football facility in the morning and see boxes of donuts stacked in the equipment room, a weekly delivery from Barron. The team captain used NIL money to buy members of the team's training and nutrition staff fresh pairs of sneakers before the season, Huff said, 'so that when they taped guys pregame, they got to do it in Jordans.'
'All those little things, that's always been him,' Huff said. 'It's stuff he didn't have to do. He wanted to show people how much he appreciated them and how much they did for him and how much they do for his family. Everything he does is genuine.'
Cultivating those types of vibes is one thing when you're in the middle of a magical season, like Texas' 2024 campaign that reached the College Football Playoff semifinals. It's another thing when you're playing on a high school team that wins three games in three years. Barron stood out from the time he was a sophomore, earning offers from the likes of TCU and Baylor. But Barron's John B. Connally High School didn't have the depth to keep up with other schools in the fierce big-school landscape in the Austin area.
'When myself and my staff got there, it had been down, and we built it up and got to the playoffs,' said Jason Cecil, Barron's coach at Connally. 'Then, they opened a new school that basically cut (Connally's roster numbers) in half. His group was a part of that, where we just didn't have the numbers we had had in the past to compete at that level. The thing I saw with him through that is that he just kept coming to work, kept becoming a better and better leader.'
HS Rewind. With the NFL Draft starting tomorrow, it's cool to look back at some of the guys who will get picked & see what they were like in high school. From Pflugerville Connally to likely 1st rd pick, Jahdae Barron has always been a big play DB. @Officia1dae @BamPerformance pic.twitter.com/edxve290d6
— Travis Recek (@TravisRecek) April 23, 2025
Losing was frustrating, but it also revealed the leadership skills that would become part of Barron's legacy at Texas and a significant factor in Denver's decision to take them with its first-round pick despite needs at skill positions on offense.
'He was always the same person, no matter what was happening,' said Harrison McKinley, a teammate of Barron's at Connally. 'He kept pushing us and keeping us together. Even if we were losing, he had a winning mindset. He would get up hyped before games, made sure our minds were right.'
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It was also at Connally where Barron first began showcasing the uncommon versatility that has become a defining trait. He spent most of his time at outside corner, blanketing the opponent's top receiver, but Cecil saw enough flashes of Barron's work in the deep part of the field or crashing the line of scrimmage to project that 'he would be outstanding as a safety.'
Short on numbers during Barron's senior season, Cecil decided to use his best defensive player at wide receiver.
'We said, 'What are we doing? Let's see if this can catch the ball,'' the coach said. 'We put him at receiver and he's automatically our best receiver. I probably made a mistake there waiting that long. He was a special talent.'
Each season at Texas tested Barron in new ways. He played outside, in the nickel spot and at safety. He roamed the line of scrimmage in a dime linebacker role. He would split would-be double-team blocks by receivers or duck under the reach of tight ends to drop a running back for a loss. His 11.5 tackles for loss in 2023 were the most by any defensive back in the Big 12.
Payton scoffed at the notion that a skillset like Barron's wasn't a need for Denver. Contending in the AFC against its wave of talented quarterbacks means having solutions for the continuous batch of problems those passers can create. A truly versatile piece like Barron is a must in that landscape, the coach said.
'When you're short (on defensive backs), boy, that makes it difficult,' Payton said. 'These are premium positions, and this type of player is less available than so many other positions. It's harder to find these traits and what he does than at other positions. So he provides great flexibility if you want to play a third-down snap and put Surtain on a certain receiver, travel (Barron) to one, travel Riley (Moss), there's a lot of flexibility. … It's real difficult if you're light there. It would be no different than 20 years ago if you were light at just one of the two corner positions. The value of these defensive backs in the last 10 years has really skyrocketed relative to how the game has changed.'
Barron arrived at Broncos' headquarters on Friday and tried to express the gravity of the moment. Techonia Davis sat in a chair 10 feet away as her son spoke about the journey the two had taken to get there. There was a glance between the two as Barron stood tall at the podium, an unspoken recognition that a shared dream had been realized.