Broncos CB Ja'Quan McMillian Deserves a Serious Look as Backup Nickel CB

Denver's backup nickel cornerback job is up for grabs, and Ja'Quan McMillian should get a serious look.

The Denver Broncos can now see their roster battles play out with training camp underway. While training camp practices are important, there's so much more that factors in, with the preseason games mattering the most. 

One of the battles going on at training camp is for the backup nickel cornerback spot. Multiple players are fighting for it, including Tremon Smith, Faion Hicks, Ja'Quan McMillian, and Essang Bassey. 

Smith seems destined for a special teams role, more so than as a primary backup. Hicks appears to be at the bottom of the depth chart, making the competition mainly between McMillian and Bassey. 

Going off what we know, McMillian should get the look over Bassey. Of course, things can change depending on what these young DBsshow in the preseason, but McMillian should be the choice for now. 

Bassey has more experience in the NFL, with McMillian only entering Year 2. Both were undrafted free agents, with Bassey out of Wake Forest and McMillian out of East Carolina. Last year, Bassey was ahead of the then-rookie, but Bassey still only played 222 snaps, with McMillian getting 68.

This will be Year 4 for Bassey. The problem is, he's still the same player he was as a rookie. 

Bassey's game has a few apparent weaknesses, with issues in run defense and covering crossing routes. In 2022, he also got called for three penalties, two of which came in Week 15 and Week 17, when he only played 11 total snaps. 

What's noticeable about Bassey's play in 2022 is that in the Broncos' season finale, McMillian was the starter, while Bassey was the third corner. Part of that could be that Broncos DBs coach Christian Parker and then-defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero were more comfortable with McMillian on the boundary than with Bassey. That plays into why McMillian should be the guy over Bassey. 

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With McMillian getting that start against the Los Angeles Chargers in the season finale, he was tasked with covering Keenan Allen, Mike Willians, and Josh Palmer. That's a tough ask for any rookie, but McMillian allowed five catches on 11 targets. He also had a hurry on the quarterback and made three stops in the game. 

For a rookie who never saw the field for 17 games coming from a smaller school like East Carolina, that's noteworthy. The game wasn't too big for McMillian, and he didn't back down from his competition. While Williams and Allen each beat him for a catch for catches of 18 and 15 yards, respectively, that was their only catch against him. 

Bassey allowed 5-of-8 targets to be caught in the same game. One catch was by Williams, with the rest coming from Austin Ekeler, DeAndre Carter, and Gerald Everett. 

The issue isn't the number of catches relinquished but how they came. The Chargers were able to exploit Bassey's problems with quickness and overall speed, working him laterally, which has always been an issue. 

In that same game, the Chargers tried to attack McMillian, and while they had some success, they struggled to find a consistent way to beat him. That wasn't the case with Bassey. 

With Bassey, there was already plenty of tape on how to beat him. Teams have done it time and time again with great success. 

Bottom Line

Bassey is a decent enough player, one worth keeping around on the practice squad. However, McMillian is the easy choice if he can show growth during camp and preseason. 

While there are weaknesses to his game, opposing teams don't have the same sample size of tape to know his weaknesses as they do Bassey. In this case, expect Denver to bet on the upside while keeping the known quantity in reserve. 

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