Champ Bailey gives his take on where Pat Surtain can improve
· Yahoo Sports
When you are a cornerback for the Denver Broncos, it is inevitable you'll be compared to Champ Bailey.
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During his time in Washington and with the Broncos, Bailey was widely regarded as one of the best cover men in NFL history, and he certainly knows talent when he sees it.
While promoting Panini America at the Super Bowl, Bailey spoke with Broncos Wire about the NFL's 2024 Defensive Player of the Year: cornerback Pat Surtain. We asked Bailey where PS2 can improve going into Year 6.
"The kid, he is up there as far as standards go," Bailey said of Surtain. "Improvements (are) always something that can be accomplished. I would say just his knowledge of the game, you know, just continue to keep watching yourself. And find more ways to make plays."
Despite missing three games last season due to a pectoral injury suffered in a win over the Dallas Cowboys, Surtain was still a lockdown corner, earning Pro Bowl honors for the fourth straight season and a second-team All-Pro nod.
"I can kind of relate it to, sort of the middle of my career or the early prime days of my career," Bailey said. "I think what I started doing was recognizing coverages, not coverages, but patterns and different tendencies from offenses better than I did my previous years. And really, the only way you can get good at that is through experience.
"So I know (Surtain) doesn't make a lot of mistakes, but if there's one thing he can probably get better at, which I know is just recognizing patterns before they happen. That's kind of requiring him to play off the ball a lot more and see things, which could be a benefit to him and gives him more opportunities to make plays."
Bailey joined several NFL players and all-time greats who made the rounds at the Panini Prizm VIP lounge in San Francisco during Super Bowl week. Bailey is a long-time endorser of Panini America, the exclusive trading card partner of the NFL. He told Broncos Wire that it was "surreal" the first time he saw himself on a trading card.
"As a kid, you collect cards, and when you actually see yourself on a card, I mean, it becomes more than just trading cards," Bailey said. "It's like, damn, this is real. And, you know, I take it — I don't take it for granted, man."
Bailey grew up collecting cards of NFL and NBA players like Emmitt Smith and Dominique Wilkins, and his own cards became hot items during his NFL career. Now retired, he believes "it's only right that I make myself visible at these activations and get to shake hands of the people that collect them."
Ever since he was drafted, Surtain has been compared to Bailey, and recently, the Hall of Famer appeared on Surtain's Closed on Sundays podcast. You can view the entire exchange below.
After a season that was hindered by injury, Surtain will look to bounce back in 2026 and continue to take the top receivers off the field week in and week out.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Denver Broncos: Champ Bailey gives his take on Pat Surtain's outlook