The Denver Broncos continue to make moves to their roster even with the NFL Draft approaching this Thursday. Will adding a veteran cornerback change their potential strategy for the draft itself?
Denver Broncos adding veteran cornerback Levi Wallace
The Denver Broncos are adding former Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Levi Wallace to the roster ahead of Thursday’s NFL Draft, as first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. This move gives the Broncos a veteran presence alongside Patrick Surtain II as the team prepares for the 2024 NFL season.
Wallace spent the past two seasons as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which came in as one of the league’s top defensive units last season. However, according to Pro Football Reference, Wallace surrendered six total touchdowns last season and allowed 40 catches on 75 total targets last year.
As a member of the Steelers, he started in 18 of 31 total games, accumulating 84 tackles, 24 passes defensed, and six interceptions.
He joins the room where he’ll likely compete with third-year cornerback Damarri Mathis and second-year player Riley Moss for the starting job opposite of Surtain.
Earlier last week in Denver’s pre-draft press conference, Broncos GM George Paton noted that they like the players they have in the cornerback room but it’s one of those positions where they’re always looking to add.
“You’re always looking for corners and edge, value-type positions,” Paton said last week. “We like our corner group. We have one of the best corners in the league. We like our nickel in ‘J-Mac’ [CB Ja’Quan McMillian]. We have two young outside guys, [CB] Riley [Moss], and [CB] Damarri [Mathis] and [CB] Tremon [Smith]. We have a good, young group. They’re younger, so we like the group, [but] you’re always looking to add at those type of positions.”
Right now, this move is a low-risk, high-reward type of move for the Broncos to add experience to the position room, but opens up the floor for competition. Even with the addition of Wallace, it still wouldn’t surprise me if the Broncos look to add several other players at the position in the draft.
