Riley Moss is Fired Up About the Broncos' New-Look Secondary

Former Iowa Hawkeye Riley Moss was quite the find for the Denver Broncos last season. Playing opposite Patrick Surtain II can be torturous on a young cornerback, but Moss withstood the onslaught in 2024, starting 14 games and totaling the third-most tackles on the team. 

Moss also had his fingerprints on three takeaways, including an interception. He also broke up eight passes directed at him.

Moss has a never-say-die attitude that makes him an ideal player to take the field each game, knowing that opponents are going to look his way at a much higher clip than they will the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Moss is always shaping his game and mindset to thrive out on an island when he's in coverage. 

Given that the AFC West boasts three top quarterbacks, a huge amount of forward thinking was firmly in play when the Broncos drafted Jahdae Barron to bolster the cornerback room. Moss could have opted to sulk when Barron was drafted, but he knows nothing stands up better to an aerial assault than a deep and talented secondary. 

Before Barron arrived in the draft, the Broncos had signed safety Talanoa Hufanga in free agency, injecting two new tectonic forces in the secondary. Moss is here for it.

"I love it. We have a good room and just a bunch of guys that love football," Moss said. "I think that's the most important thing because that's how you have a team that's able to stay attacking every week and staying where we need to be at." 

Count on Moss to be a fully bought-in player and the consummate team guy. His career as a boundary cornerback hasn't always been easy, marked by the typical ups and downs, but playing outside was his lifelong dream, and he realized it at the highest level of the game.

"I think just reps," Moss said about getting used to playing outside. "That's kind of where I've always been at. That was kind of my goal ever since I was a kid was, 'We're going to do this, whatever it takes.' So being fully bought in on the outside, not to say that I can't play inside because there are situations where the corner travels and I have to play inside. So being able to do everything but making sure I was solidified on the outside." 

Despite Moss' confidence in his well-rounded skill set, an additional challenge undoubtedly came his way when the Broncos used the 20th overall pick in the draft to select Barron. For now, at least, head coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph are projecting that Barron will remain in the slot, but that could change over time. 

A battle for the outside position could be brewing later on down the line, but Moss has learned from his college days to always guard against complacency. 

"The biggest thing, and something that I learned in college after starting my freshman year, was I kind of got comfortable," Moss said. "I got the spot, and then I ended up having a couple of bad games and then the spot's taken from you. So I think the biggest thing is not getting comfortable. I'm glad I went through that in college, so now I know where I'm at now is you have to continue to attack every day and not get comfortable."