Surtain Is Out, Moss Is Out, and Denver Plays Los Angeles This Week

Pat Surtain II is out. Riley Moss is ruled out for Week 5. That leaves Brandon Jones as the only secondary player Denver can genuinely count on, with Ja'Quan McMillian and Sean Fresch behind him at cornerback and Ugo Amadi and Taylor Rapp filling out the back end. None of those names inspire much confidence against a division opponent.

The analyst desk has been writing about this secondary for two weeks now, and the underlying picture hasn't changed — it's just become more immediate. The drop from Jones to anyone else behind him is severe. Rapp was signed in August to provide veteran insurance; that insurance is now being cashed in Week 5 of the regular season, which is earlier than anyone wanted.

A division game is the wrong place to find out how thin this really is. The Broncos won 14 games last year, but they also won more close games than their point differential had any right to predict. That luck doesn't travel indefinitely. Playing a Los Angeles team with a patchwork secondary, missing both of your top cornerbacks, is a reasonable place for it to run out.