ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Almost nothing has gone according to the Denver Broncos’ plan for rookie linebacker Baron Browning. And so far, that’s worked out just fine for everyone.
Browning, a third-round pick in last April’s draft, has started the Broncos’ past six games, including Sunday’s win over the Detroit Lions. He’s shown composure in the heat of the moment to go with rare athleticism as the Broncos cling to playoff hopes.
The football education of Browning continues to accelerate and has included plenty of one-on-one sessions with Broncos coach Vic Fangio, the team’s defensive playcaller and a former linebackers coach deep down in his football DNA.
“I’ve said I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,” Browning said recently. “All I can do is just control what I can control. I really just try to stay in the moment and just make the most out of those moments. … And you just do whatever it takes.”
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The Broncos had originally planned to play the long game with Browning, a middle linebacker and outside linebacker during his time at Ohio State. The hope was to let him learn to play inside linebacker in the Broncos’ defense — a position Fangio has consistently said is one of the most difficult to learn — throughout the offseason program and see where things stood when training camp and the preseason rolled around.
Browning’s athleticism was always clear, but some personnel evaluators in the league wondered if the Buckeyes moved him around too much because of that athleticism, which limited his production at times. He had 10 of his 18 career tackles for loss and five of his career seven sacks during his junior season at Ohio State.
Browning then missed virtually all of the Broncos’ offseason work with a lower leg injury suffered during rookie minicamp and wasn’t even removed from the physically unable to perform list (PUP) until mid-August. Since, he has battled back troubles and missed a game with a concussion.
“We’re talking about a guy that didn’t do anything until late in camp and then had some injuries,” Fangio has said. “He’s working hard at it. He’s spending a lot of extra time studying. He’s prideful, he wants to do well, he understands the responsibility he has right now. He wants to hold [up] his end of the bargain, and he’s doing everything he can to do that.”
When the Broncos lost both of their starting inside linebackers by Week 6 — Josey Jewell and Alexander Johnson — it provided an opportunity for Browning, who entered the starting lineup in Week 8 and has been there since. After playing four defensive snaps over the Broncos’ first seven games, Browning has played at least 86% of the defensive snaps in five of the last six games.
“He has speed and explosion,” said Broncos defensive coordinator Ed Donatell. “That’s really the one thing. He can cover a lot of ground.”
Browning has had to cover a lot of ground off the field, a learning curve that has included one-on-one sessions with Fangio, who has “linebackers” listed on his résumé for 10 of his seasons as an NFL assistant in addition to over two decades as a defensive playcaller. And Browning is expected to bring more than himself to those sessions, he is expected to bring good questions that need good answers.
“Well, I say, ‘Hey, what do you got for me? Questions or anything confusing to you?'” Fangio has said of the sessions. “He watches a lot of film on his own. I tell him to write it down what play he’s talking about, or he’ll text me and I’ll look at it then get back to him. [We meet] 15 or 20 minutes here and there during a day, just go over stuff. Sometimes you fall into something where he thought he knew, but he didn’t — to the point where he didn’t even ask, [but] just kind of through the conversation something comes up and [I say], ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. No. No.’ Sometimes you fall into a nugget.”
The Broncos’ quest to end a playoff drought that dates back to the 2015 season remains a decidedly uphill affair with four games remaining. The defense, with Browning in the middle of it, must find a way to limit Joe Burrow, Derek Carr, Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes — or the league’s No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 8 passers after Sunday’s games — if the Broncos want to reach the postseason.
“He’s making small strides daily in practice,” Fangio said, “and hopefully, those strides show in the games.”