Damarri Mathis still has two years left on his contract, but he is seemingly entering a pivotal season with the Denver Broncos.
Mathis, 25, was picked by the Broncos in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL draft out of Pittsburgh. Denver was forced to start him for 11 games as a rookie due to injuries at the position and Mathis allowed a 69.1% completion rate in coverage.
Mathis also began the 2023 season as a starter and he struggled again, allowing a 74.4% completion rate and three touchdowns. Mathis was benched seven games into the season and never regained the starting role.
Mathis might now be entering a crossroads in his career. If he can bounce back, the young cornerback will get an opportunity to once again compete for a starting job. But if his downward trajectory continues, Mathis won’t be re-signed when he hits free agency in two years.
“We have great competition there,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said when asked about Mathis and the cornerback competition on June 11. “He played well two years ago as a rookie. These guys understand that at corner, it’s a tough position. It’s probably one of the harder positions in sport. You have to have a short memory, and you have to have some mental fortitude.
“I think he has that grit. I really like where he’s at weight-wise. I think he’s moving well. I know he’s trained quite a bit this offseason, got his weight down. He’s impressed here during this period.”
Denver has backed Mathis publicly, but the team’s actions speak louder than Payton’s praise. The Broncos used a third-round pick to draft Riley Moss last year and a fifth-round pick to select Kris Abrams-Draine this year. Denver also signed veteran Levi Wallace during free agency. Those moves signal the Broncos looking for fallback (or replacement) options at cornerback.
If he wants to stick around beyond his rookie contract, Mathis needs to have a big bounce-back season in 2024.
