Tag: Surtain

Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II isn’t one of those all-stars who’s looking to duck the Pro Bowl Games. The former Alabama All-American is taking part on Sunday for the third consecutive season.

“I think it’s important to celebrate your accolades,” Surtain said during an appearance on FanDuel TV’s “Up and Adams.” “I think you need to celebrate the season you had. Have a good time here with the activities they have lined up for us, but also enjoy time to really talk football amongst your peers, amongst the best around the league. You won’t get that from here and there, so I think it’s a good time to really talk football with guys, but also catch up with certain guys around the league. So I think it’s a good time to spend time with family, kick it up, have fun doing and playing a game that you love at the end of the day.”

Selection to the AFC team for the Pro Bowl Games is only one of Surtain’s honors for his 2024 performance. The Associated Press and NFL Players Association included him on their All-Pro teams, and the Pro Football Writers of America voted Surtain as All-NFL.

The PFWA has already announced Surtain as its NFL Defensive Player of the Year for the 2024 season, and he’s a finalist for The Associated Press’ version of that award, which will be presented at the annual NFL Honors program on Thursday night.

“I thought about it a lot,” Surtain said of the AP award. “Honestly, it’s such a surreal feeling to be mentioned amongst your peers in that way. I mean, it just goes to show you the season that I had and the goals that I had aligned in mind. And holding that trophy would be such a huge honor because not only would it be an honorable trophy, but I’ll be back in New Orleans where most of my family is from, so it would definitely be a huge honor for me and my family. And I just can’t wait to see what happens.”

Despite his performance this season, Surtain is looking for a better one in 2025.

“It’s always things I could improve on,” Surtain said at his end-of-season press conference after the Broncos bowed out in a 31-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 12, “whether it’s getting stronger, getting faster, getting quicker, little things like that, little nuances throughout my game that I could work on. But that’s like every offseason. You find little things that you could work on, and you sort of build on that.”

In 2023, Denver finished 27th among the 32 NFL teams in scoring defense. This season, only two teams yielded fewer points than the Broncos, adding to the strength of Surtain’s credentials for postseason recognition.

“Defensively, we set a standard for ourselves,” Surtain said, “and went out there and proved it each and every week. And that is very fundamental to our success. Obviously, the rush up front, the coverage in the back end, so I think when you tie those two pieces together, I mean, it sets you up for success. And that’s what we did the whole year.

“And I’m looking forward to building with these guys. Obviously, this was Year 1 with a new group, and I’m excited for the future, because we’ve got a lot of young pieces that’s going to build and mature and grow in their game as well, too.”

The turnaround on defense helped Denver reach the postseason for the first time since the 2015 campaign and Surtain to attain some personal goals.

“Reaching that stage, I think is a huge accomplishment for us as a team,” Surtain said. “… I think we exceeded a lot of people’s expectations, but we knew what type of team we had going into the year. We was young, hungry and determined to reach that point in the season. And I think throughout the season, we had our ups and downs, but we were able to prevail and sort of set us up for success along the lines of the season. And it was good to finally reach that playoff spot. It was good for Broncos country to reach it, something we haven’t done in, what, eight years, so that was huge.

“And, obviously, All-Pros, Pro Bowl, that’s always a goal in mind for the season to capture that. But Defensive Player, yeah, that was a goal I had in mind, but that’s something that you definitely got to work for. And I had my mindset on it that I was going to be a finalist for that and, hopefully, win it, so it was something that I envisioned, something I had in mind. And the season that I had, I think I’ve proven it to be so.”

The Broncos posted a 10-7 regular-season record, with six of the losses coming by seven or fewer points.

“If you look at it, we’re pretty close,” Surtain said. “A lot of those losses were one-score games, close games, so I think we’re there. It’s just about finishing, and good teams find a way to finish at the end of the day. And that’s where we need to get to because we’ve got the talent. We’ve got the right pieces, so I think the next thing we need is to hone in on finishing big-time games and knowing how to win.”