If Ted Lasso were a cornerback, he’d be Riley Moss. A sword of steel and stubborn, sheathed in a smile. The kind of serial killer you bring home to Mom and Dad.
“No one is going to outrun me,” the third-year Broncos cornerback told me after minicamp, which wraps up Thursday. “It’s just trusting my eyes, trusting my leverage, and being physical at the line and slowing these guys down. They always say, you can either be good, or you can be great. I want to be great. That’s what’s going to make me great.”
I wondered what it was like to have every QB1, at the start of every game, always looking your way first. To have every offensive coordinator circling your jersey on Wednesdays. To be opposite Pat Surtain II, the best defensive player in the NFL. To be the most picked-on man in pro football.
“Be a goldfish. Just be a goldfish,” Moss replied. “I’m going to get beat. They’re going to catch a ball. They get paid, too. And as much as I want to be perfect, I can’t be.
“But I can’t allow something negative to affect you the next play. And that’s kind of the mentality, (where) I’m going to go out and I’m going to give it my all and I’m going to ball out. And if you beat me? ‘OK, good for you, dude. Let’s go again. I’m going to get you again.’ It’s just a short memory.”
Like Lasso, Riley Moss believes. In Vance Joseph. In Sean Payton. In Bo Nix. In PS2. In Jahdae Barron. In Broncos Country. In division titles. In playoff home games. In himself.
He added 10 pounds to his frame over the winter. At least seven or eight of those were lean muscle. All the better to bang with.
“(Being) a little more physical out there and (being able to) jam at the line is the biggest goal (for this season),” Moss stressed. “And the biggest takeaway from last year, for sure, is being more physical with these receivers. And that starts with the weight room and with speed and agility.”
To that end, Moss found a perfect workout partner and meathead muse back in Des Moines. Enter Jake Hummel, a former Iowa State linebacker who’s now with the Baltimore Ravens, a friend and confidant Riley lovingly calls a “psychopath in the weight room.”
Hummel laughed at that one.
“Yeah, I think (he) might be at a delusional level of confidence,” the Ravens defender told me by phone this week. “I mean that in the best (light), as a compliment. Because I think you need that.
“Especially at cornerback, where, because it’s such an ‘island’ position, and it’s so obvious when things go wrong. To be able to bounce back from (the) bad, you need that ability to bounce back from bad plays. Still have that confidence that you’re the best …
“He’s the perfect guy to have opposite Pat Surtain II, I’ll put it that way. He’s ready for every ball thrown to him.”
Even curveballs. While the universe pegged the Broncos to draft a running back or a tight end with pick No. 20 in late April, they chose a defensive “Joker” instead. Payton and GM George Paton snapped up Barron, the do-everything Texas cornerback and reigning Jim Thorpe Award winner. Best player on the board.
“I think the best thing now is, It’s great competition, and it’s only going to make him better. It’s only going to make me better,” Moss said of Barron. “It’s only going to make J-Mac (slot corner Ja’Quan McMillian) better. It’s only going to make Pat better. That’s naturally what happens, and I think it’s going to be good for our football team. And even better for our room.”
“Good dude?” I asked.
“He’s doing a great job, fitting into our room really well in terms of just personality,” Moss replied. “He’s a really good dude, and he’s got a good personality. So it’s nice to have a guy that outside of football you can get along with.”
Moss was coming off the busiest season — Pro Football Focus charted the ex-Iowa star as facing the 10th-highest QB target rate (18.01%) last fall among starting NFL corners — of his football life. Over the three December games the ex-Iowa Hawkeye product missed with a knee issue, the Broncos gave up an average of 300 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and 26.3 points. And his bosses were already grooming a potential replacement?
“I think the main thing is building depth, and having a room that if someone goes down, the next man up can perform,” Moss said. “We got caught in that last year, and we can’t get caught like that, especially the way our defense plays. We can’t change our scheme up because one certain guy goes down. So I think it helps having depth.”
“Well, yeah,” I said, “that Cleveland game …”
“I mean, it (stunk). It (stunk). And as a competitor, it (stinks),” Moss countered. “You hate to give up that many points (32). Thank God we won the game. But obviously, as a competitor, it (stinks) being sidelined and watching plays that you could be making. So I think that was the biggest thing. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen again. Stay healthy and roll through this year.”
So far, so good. Over a couple weeks in shells and shorts, Moss has remained at his usual starting CB2 slot on the outside of the Broncos’ defense. And Payton, more to the point, remains a fan.
“When you’re opposite of (PS2), you’re getting a lot of traffic, and (Moss) rose to the occasion,” the coach said earlier this week. “He’s someone who’s extremely smart. So studying splits, all the things that allow you to have a chance to be a pretty good corner … he’s having a good offseason.”
Riley Moss believes. It’s why he’s unabashedly corny, even by Iowa standards. It’s why he can’t wait for another crack at Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, who threw for 412 yards against the Broncos last December. Another crack at Tee Higgins, who’s still running to daylight.
“We found out we’re playing the Bengals this year. Right? That’s circled in my house,” Moss said. “Because as a competitor, you have to be (like that). At our position, you have to be.
And obviously, that game (stunk). There’s no excuse. If I’m out there, I’ve got to do my job. I’m going to be a lot more ready to roll this year.”
As Moss smiled, his eyes burned. Some wounds, even a goldfish never forgets.
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