As his Denver legacy grows, Broncos’ Pat Surtain II feels he can ‘always get better’

It began with more than square feet of exposed red brick on the backside of a vacant commercial building off Sphere Street Slabs jutted out from fused concrete at incongruent angles no single smooth patch on the beast s scales Gus Rey needed approximately spray-paint cans of a particular shade of Bronco baby-blue countless more gallon-sized cans of paint than could squeeze into his car and a scissor lift that swung him feet in the sky He also needed a consistent handle on his sanity to successfully pull off his mural of Pat Surtain II I knew it would kick my butt Rey reflected last Saturday while gazing up at the wall in downtown Denver And it did Rey a laid-back local artist secretly commissioned by the Broncos a inadequate months ago painted a mural of Nikola Jokic in RiNo to honor his third MVP last year It was at that time the largest general piece he d ever designed His Surtain mural honoring the cornerback s Defensive Contestant of the Year trophy was roughly times larger It took a week at first of talking to businesses around downtown and pleading for wall space Then came a lengthy process in the months to come of Rey scribbling massive doodles in a highly visible parking lot just a scarce blocks from Coors Field He felt the eyes of passersby prematurely deciding that whatever he was painting was going to suck It all culminated in a day when a slightly nervous Rey welcomed Surtain to the finished site the Broncos cornerback carrying little idea that someone was illustrating three gigantic versions of his likeness in downtown Denver It was surreal Surtain smiled a minimal days later He was really gracious and he was super nice Rey declared of Surtain And I think he just felt like really grateful that he s making an impact on Denver you know Artist Gus Rey poses in front of his in recent months completed mural of Denver Broncos star Pat Surtain II in downtown Denver on Tuesday June Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Adorned in orange block lettering on the right side of Surtain s mural is a simple message Why Not Be Great Words from Surtain s own lips in a February video on the Broncos social media Words that Rey used to leave a broader impact as that baby-blue paint slowly chips from the Denver wind in the years to come Entering his fifth season Surtain s already skyrocketed to DPOY heights reached by only six other cornerbacks in NFL history And he still feels as he reported reporters Monday that he can inevitably get better It s a scary proposition and nearly impossible No defensive back has ever won multiple Defensive Sportsman of the Year trophies But the -year-old Surtain is younger than any DB who s won the award set on this path since he was years old while learning the craft from his father Patrick Surtain Sr His current Broncos deal stretches through And a larger-than-life Denver legacy both in trophy cases and local classrooms has already splashed across a massive stretch of brick in the heart of the city Surtain has stamped himself to this with the final words of that February video crafted by the Broncos for the NFL s DPOY announcement I m just getting started His ceiling is as high as anybody that s ever played the battle legendary Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey advised The Denver Post in early April If he gets any better than he is now he ll be mentioned among the greats Bailey continued There s no doubt about it You win Defensive Athlete of the Year this young and you ve got more years ahead of you I still don t feel like he s peaked yet For seven years Atlanta-based trainer Oliver Davis II has tutored chosen of the best cornerbacks in the NFL the Colts Kenny Moore the Panthers Jaycee Horn the Dolphins Jalen Ramsey Surtain Davis estimated was about the only top talent in latest defensive back classes whom he hadn t worked with That is until late April when Surtain presented up for an Arizona workout with rising Philadelphia Eagles star Cooper DeJean Toward the end of the session Davis lined up as a receiver opposite Surtain to drill press coverage On every rep Davis noticed Surtain s technique was exactly the same Jam Davis at the breastplate as he broke into a journey Move his hand split-second from Davis chest down to his hip Robotic Eventually the -year-old DeJean spoke up Why are you doing that the Eagles cornerback questioned Surtain as Davis recalled Surtain explained The eyes and hands are connected he described DeJean So his eyes should be on a receiver s hips Let your hands linger too long on the chest and menace drawing a flag from officers We were all saying the same thing Davis recalled Like Bro I don t ever think I ve seen nothing like this before ' Davis filmed the workout for his YouTube channel In the weeks since he revealed both young kids and NFL veterans have begun picking up Surtain s hand positioning That repetition and attention to detail are what extend Surtain s ceiling according to Davis There are other cornerbacks with his -foot- height speed or ball skills There are insufficient with his discipline Anal about doing things right as Davis put it It s not just his gift that he got from God but he s truly working on it Broncos rookie CB Jahdae Barron announced of Surtain after he was drafted in April s first round He s really dedicated to what he s putting in Barron continued He knows if he puts in a lot the reward is bigger It just evidenced this past season for him and I know he s going to continue to stack Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II during a Patrick Surtain II Foundation fashion show in Arvada Colorado on Monday June Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post The city of Denver has embraced Surtain and championed this journey since he was taken ninth overall in s NFL draft His larger goal too is to give that love back He spoke to reporters Monday night in the lobby of the Automobile Vault in Parker where his Patrick Surtain II Foundation hosted an annual gala to benefit Denver-area high schools As Surtain envisions building bigger and bigger events with his foundation as he mentioned Monday s auction raised over for grants to help STEAM teachers in Denver and awarded four separate grants of to teachers for classroom supplies Related Articles Renck Broncos Courtland Sutton deserves new deal but Devaughn Vele looks like future replacement Renck Mike McGlinchey believes Broncos offense ready for big stage This is Bo s unit Dubbing himself The Cleaner tight end Evan Engram aspires to take Broncos to another level Sean Payton on Broncos interest in free-agent running back J K Dobbins We ll see where it goes Broncos Mailbag Should Denver sign JK Dobbins Nick Chubb or another veteran running back I just want to be a great Samaritan towards my population Surtain explained when questioned what legacy he hopes to leave in Denver Being able to give back in a positive way is something that I envision because football doesn t last forever you know I mean you can make a short-term impact in your football career But what s forever lasting is what you do in the group what you put out there what you do for people around you and giving back Rey s mural in downtown Denver was theorized and crafted as a specific ode to Surtain s season There are three silhouettes of the Broncos cornerback on that brick wall The first is a side profile of his full-field sprint last October when he picked off a pass from the Raiders Gardner Minshew and ran it back yards for a touchdown Rey has wound that play back over and over again over the past sparse months eventually sketching out a set of faded white Xs and Os in the background of the mural the exact alignment of Surtain s break on the ball from the line of scrimmage Greater though it s an ode to Surtain s ascension in Denver a story with years of chapters that remain I would be like Okay yeah you ve accomplished X Y Z ' Davis declared But you re only bro Do something that s never been done before ' Artist Gus Rey s not long ago completed mural of Denver Broncos star Patrick Surtain II in downtown Denver on Tuesday June Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Want more Broncos news Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis