To no surprise, the Broncos picked up the fifth-year option on cornerback Pat Surtain II for $19.802 million, a source confirmed to Mike Klis of 9 News.

"That's an easy one,'' Broncos general manager George Paton said at his NFL Combine news conference two months ago. "That's one of the easier decisions we'll make."

The surprise was the timing as the Broncos exercised Surtain's fifth-year option two days before the NFL Draft begins Thursday and not closer to the May 2 option deadline, or five days after the draft.

The Broncos' No. 9 overall pick in the 2021 draft, Surtain, 24, has already established himself as one of the NFL's top corners. He had four interceptions as a rookie, but quarterbacks got a little more careful from there as he had just two interceptions in 2022 and one last year.

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