The standout performances come easily to Steve Ellis’ mind.
To him, they doubled as harbingers.
This kind of breakout, he insists, was inevitable for Ja’Quan McMillian.
The two crossed paths for only one season (2021) at East Carolina, but all the same, Ellis saw more than enough to know that he knew.
A punch-out on a game-deciding play against Navy. Critical picks against Marshall and SMU. Whenever the Pirates needed a defensive play, McMillian made it.
Sound familiar?
In the midst of McMillian transforming himself from a practice squad player as a rookie into potentially a Pro Bowler in his second pro season, this will also ring familiar to those who play next to McMillian, coach him or have otherwise witnessed his ascendance on a daily basis.
“He’s one of those guys that, once you give him a job, he’s going to learn everything about that job,” Ellis, now the cornerbacks coach at Louisville, told The Denver Post. “The next time you see him, he’s going to be perfecting that craft and perfecting that job.”
Oh, and there’s this.
“Some of his great plays were in games, but some of his best plays were in practice,” Ellis said. “And before you know it, it was just like, ‘Man, who made that play? Oh, that’s just J-Mac.’ And you just go back to your daily deal. Because it just became routine.”
As the Broncos’ young defensive back ascends week-by-week from a back-up to start the year to a good story to one of the NFL’s best nickels, it’s worth reiterating just how his story unfolded, why he didn’t get drafted in the first place after racking up 12 interceptions and 23 break-ups in three seasons and what, if anything, other players in the similar positions can do to attempt to replicate his rocket ship trajectory.
“Going undrafted, you’re coming in with the mindset just to work,” Broncos rookie outside linebacker Thomas Incoom told The Post. “The rest is just the payout. You come in, head down, just working. And the work is going to carry you at the end of the day. What you put in is what you’re going to get. …
“I feel like, for Ja’Quan, he just worked. He worked his butt off and now he’s in the position he’s in. I’m here to do the same thing.”
Of course, two realities can be true at the same time. First: Every year, undrafted players make rosters across the NFL and turn into productive players. Pro Bowlers. Even a few Hall of Famers. But also: On the whole, the NFL is good at identifying talent and drafting it accordingly.
Every once in a while, though, there’s a guy who plays beyond his speed metrics. Or past size limitations. Or falls through the cracks at a smaller school.
McMillian hit all three of those. Alex Singleton knows a thing or two about that.
The Broncos’ leading tackler went undrafted out of Montana State, then got cut three times in his first year in the NFL. He went to the Canadian Football League for three years before finally carving out a role with the Philadelphia Eagles. Now he’s already secured his fourth straight 100-tackle season and turned himself into, quite literally, a player defensive coordinator Vance Joseph doesn’t take off the field.
Suffice it to say, he knows where McMillian’s coming from and can appreciate what he’s doing perhaps more acutely than almost anybody.
“I think for a lot of people it’s just getting the opportunity,” he told The Post. “Being an undrafted guy, whatever was overlooked to not get drafted, obviously everyone was wrong. I don’t think that is hard to argue anymore. I think it’s just believing in yourself, having that confidence and playing the way he has.”
In fact, plenty of Broncos know the path. Assuming tight end Lucas Krull is signed to the 53-man roster Saturday, he’ll make 15 of Denver’s 53 who began their NFL careers as undrafted free agents. The Broncos have four more — receivers Tim Patrick and Jalen Virgil, linebacker Jonas Griffith and offensive lineman Alex Palczewski — on injured reserve.
Every time a guy like that contributes, whether it’s as impressively as McMillian, in a role like receiver Brandon Johnson or flashes promise like running back Jaleel McLaughlin, it’s a win for general manager George Paton and Denver’s scouting staff. It also helps cover up for three seasons of minimal draft capital.
It’s not a way to make a living overall on an NFL roster, but it sure does help.
The Broncos could use more of it, too, whether it’s in the future from a guy like McLaughlin, Incoom on the edge or tight end Nate Adkins.
“The tight end room is awesome to be a young guy in because you’ve got (former undrafted college basketball player Chris Manhertz) and (Adam Trautman) who do the right thing every single day,” Adkins said. “They know how to be a pro. They know how to be elite throughout the week leading up to the game. That’s my biggest thing that I need to develop and I have been working on that. Staying in the building forever, learning, taking notes, watching tape and all these things. It’s a great group to learn from. And (Michael Burton), too, doing that fullback-type stuff.
“… I can’t think of a better situation to be in to learn and grow and become a better player for the future.”
It all fits together. McMillian and other young defensive backs talk about Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson like Adkins does the veteran players in his group. If you have good guides, the path is easier to find. That, as much as anything, is the distillation of the most nebulous word in sports: Culture.
A guy’s got to have the ability, but as Singleton said, sometimes he just needs the right opportunity to go along with it.
In McMillian’s case, he gets the bulk of the credit for his ascension. He’s got obvious tools, keen instincts and now confidence to match. Coaches get some credit, too, and so do his defensive teammates.
“We can let him play free,” Singleton said. “He’s new in the system and we’re not. So let’s make sure he knows what he’s doing and if he does do something that a young guy does, cover up for him and make him right. Let him play confident.
“He’s done that. He’s balling.”
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