Jahdae Barron gave the Broncos a preseason spark, and he’s already planning to hand the biggest souvenir from it to someone who matters most to him.
In Denver’s 27-7 win over the Falcons in the preseason opener, Barron turned a late-second-quarter scramble into a 98-yard pick-six. With 1 minute 40 seconds left before halftime, Falcons quarterback Cooper Rush fired toward Chris Blair, only for linebacker Karene Reid to get a Superman jump on the play and tip the ball right into Barron’s hands. Barron did the rest, racing the other way for the touchdown.
Barron hit the end zone at 21.5 MPH on the return, a number that stands out even in a league built on speed.
Once he got back to the locker room, Barron was focused on the win and on the people around him, not just the highlight. He made clear that the play belonged to the group as much as to him.
"It felt good. It was a blessing.
I was just happy for my teammate to make the right play for me and be in the right position,” Barron said. “Just trying to be in the right spot.
Most definitely. That's what camp is, that's what fall camp is for."
That football, though, won’t stay with him for long. After the game, Barron said he plans to give the pick-six ball to his little sister, according to Zac Stevens, the Denver Broncos beat reporter, who tweeted the detail on X.
Family has been central to Barron’s story from the start. On draft night, when the Broncos took him in the first round, he thanked the organization with his family listening on speakerphone. He also bought a house for his mom, who had always pushed him to trust the process.
"My mother, the strongest woman in the world,” he said. “Even on Father's Day, I tell her, 'Happy Mother's Day,' again.
She gets two. … She pushed me every single day, just what I was saying, just staying committed to the process.
Whenever I got down, she made sure that she reminded me."
Barron has also talked about the bond forming inside Denver’s camp. He described the group’s chemistry as a real strength, built through competition, repetition and time spent together away from the field.
"The camaraderie is big here,” Barron said. “Even during camp, even though we're competing, we're going against each other all day, and we've seen the same faces every day.
It's just that brotherhood that we have. We even went to go watch Spider-Man together during camp.
We're just keeping it tight."
Head coach Sean Payton has also been working through preseason personnel usage with Barron in mind, telling his staff how to use the rookie around two specific areas.
Barron, a former Texas Longhorn, also took time to thank Longhorns fans and reflect on what his years in Austin meant to him.
"I just want to say thank you for week in and week out just cheering for me,” Barron said [h/t Sports Illustrated ]. “Being at Texas has been the best years of my life. I've dedicated so much to just wearing that burnt orange, growing up, being a child and going to the games when I was little."
He also said the Broncos’ opportunity helped change his mother’s life.
"They took the opportunity, and they changed my mother's life,” he said. “So, I just wanted to thank everybody that was a part of doing that because it was a collective group. I'm going to invest that, and I'm going to give her the world back so that she can just be a mother."
In Other News...
Broncos Showed Early Promise And One Problem Fans Will Debate
The Broncos opened their 2026 preseason with a win over the Falcons, and there was plenty to like in the way Denver looked early under offensive coordinator Davis Webb. The defense set the tone by blanking Atlanta in the first half, while a few young names helped add to the optimism, with Jonah Coleman and Jahdae Barron both turning in encouraging showings.
Still, it was not a spotless debut for the Broncos, and the rough edges were hard to miss for a team trying to sort out its depth chart. Penalties and mistakes by backup tackle Matt Peart stood out as the main concern from a night that otherwise gave Denver reason to feel good about its defensive foundation and the first glimpse of Webb in the play-calling role. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Depth Battle Just Got More Interesting After Denvers Strong Start
A preseason opener like Denvers 27-7 win over Atlanta can sometimes feel like a dress rehearsal, but this one offered enough juice to make the back half of the roster worth watching a little more closely. Davis Webb and Jarrett Stidham both drew praise from Sean Payton, Courtland Sutton showed up as a steady presence, and Jonah Coleman and Riley Moss each added moments that helped the Broncos set the tone early.
Sean Paytons support for Webb was notable because the quarterback room is already shaping up as one of camps more intriguing competitions, and Stidhams work only adds to that conversation. With the Broncos coming out sharp in the preseason opener, the real question now is how those individual performances stack up when the staff starts sorting out who keeps building momentum and who has a tougher climb over the next few weeks. [Read more 🡒]
Sean Payton Twists The Knife As Broncos Embarrass Falcons Early
The Broncos came out sharp in the NFL preseason opener, taking a 24-0 lead into halftime at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and making the kind of early statement that tends to travel well beyond August. Denvers defense and pace left Atlanta searching for answers, while Sean Payton had his own pointed reaction to the setting, noting the sparse crowd and leaning on his long history of success against the Falcons.
Atlantas night only got louder in the worst way as the home crowd turned restless and boos started raining down by halftime. Tua Tagovailoa made his Falcons debut under difficult circumstances, but the offense never found much rhythm, leaving the matchup feeling less like a tune-up and more like an uncomfortable reminder of how far the Falcons still had to go. [Read more 🡒]