The Denver Broncos exited the first round of the 2025 NFL draft gushing with praise for new cornerback Jahdae Barron (Texas), their first pick in the draft.

“[He has] a bright energy to him,” coach Sean Payton said on Thursday evening. After getting “The Call” from the Broncos, Barron did something Payton had never experienced before with a draft prospect.

“For the first time, I’ve never had this happen where he politely asked, ‘When we’re finished, could you guys put me on speaker phone?’” Payton recalled. “After he finished with [owner and CEO] Greg, Mr. Penner, he put him on speakerphone. He thanked everyone in the room for the process and talked about his mother and the journey. I’ve never had that happen.”

Barron spoke about that moment in an interview with Cory Mose of KVUE News:

Denver was able to do extensive research on Barron leading up to the draft thanks to several connections to the Longhorns.

NFL DRAFT HUB: Live NFL Draft news, live picks, grades, analysis and more.

“You get various degrees of intel,” Payton said. “You have the football on film and then all the other things with his coach, Vance [Joseph]’s [cousin], when you have these ties and you know he’s an A-plus learn like an elite interview learn. Then, when you watch the film, you’re trying to minimize misses or mistakes as best you can.

“I could understand, I haven’t seen any social media, but I could understand why those would feel that way. [Special teams coordinator/assistant head coach] Darren Rizzi, his son, is in ops there with Texas. The amount of information we were fortunate enough to have, we don’t always get the same with other players.”

It certainly sounds like Denver got not only a great player, but also a great person in Barron. After serving as a team captain at Texas, Barron will now take his elite mentality into the NFL with the Broncos.

Related: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.