ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When Robert Livingston was hired for his first NFL coaching role in 2015, a defensive quality control position with the Cincinnati Bengals, he was handed the keys to an office that wasn’t exactly spacious.“It was probably a converted janitor’s closet, if I had to guess,” Livingston, the Broncos’ new defensive passing game coordinator, said after a recent training camp practice, grinning as he reflected on the memory.Livingston, though, didn’t spend much time in that office. The Bengals’ defensive backs coach that season, Vance Joseph, wanted the young coach to feel more connected to the rest of the defensive staff. So the two assistants each grabbed one side of Livingston’s desk and carried it across the hall, forming an ‘L’ shape with the desk in Joseph’s office. The two worked in that close proximity throughout the year, and Livingston was left with an unmistakable takeaway from the coach he calls his “mentor in this profession.”Rookie Jonah Coleman looks like missing piece in Broncos' backfieldNick Kosmider“As a young coach, man, you’re looking for mentors and guys you can emulate, and I think his biggest superpower is that he’s never too high and he’s never too low,” Livingston said of Joseph, who became Denver’s head coach two years after the 2015 season and is now entering a fourth year as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator — his second stint with the team. “He always kind of lives in the middle. That’s what I strive to do.”Livingston now has a spacious office of his own inside the Broncos’ glistening new $175 million training facility. He joined Joseph’s defensive staff this offseason after spending the prior two years in Boulder as Deion Sanders’ defensive coordinator at the University of Colorado. He replaced Jim Leonhard, who left the Broncos this offseason to take a promotion as the defensive coordinator with the Bills. Livingston has quickly made an impact on one of this training camp’s breakout players with a style similar to the one he tried to mirror while sitting in Joseph’s office back in Cincinnati.“He’s so calm as a coach, and he’s been so great for Riley (Moss) to calm him down some,” Joseph said, referring to Livingston’s work with the fourth-year cornerback. ” … His IQ is high, and it’s always good to have a coach who can add something to our defense. Hiring (Leonhard) two years ago was great for us. He changed some things. He made us look different — same system, but how we played things looked different. It makes (it) hard to (attack) for offenses, and Rob’s done the same thing. He’s taken our system and put his twist on it. That’s made it look different a little bit.”Livingston and new defensive backs coach Doug Belk (“a phenomenal technician,” Livingston calls him) are overseeing a secondary that could be one of the most complete units in the NFL this season. The group is anchored by superstar cornerback Pat Surtain II. It has two productive veterans at safety in Talanoa Hufanga, a second-team All-Pro in 2025, and Brandon Jones, who is healthy after missing the end of last season because of a pectoral injury. Ja’Quan McMillian, last year’s playoff hero against the Bills, has blossomed into one of the league’s top nickels. Jahdae Barron, who had a 97-yard interception return for a touchdown in Denver’s preseason opener, hasn’t found a permanent positional home since joining the Broncos as a first-round pick last season, but he could be something of a super sub in this version of the defense. He is the dime in six-DB packages, but can also fill in at nearly every other position in the secondary.It’s the rise of Moss, though, that has helped give this group a particularly menacing look in training camp. His first-half interception against the Falcons — he caught it after redirecting his body to snare a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage — was a fitting early result for a player who has popped in nearly every training camp practice.“I think the game’s slowing down for him,” Livingston said. “Sometimes that happens in Year 2. Sometimes that happens in Year 4. You’ve got a veteran player who has played a lot, who comes to work every day and wants to get better.”Moss has been solid in his two seasons as a starter with the Broncos. Manning his position in Denver means playing opposite Surtain, a player opposing offenses avoid like they are ducking inside to get away from a summer thunderstorm. Moss faced more targets in the past two seasons than any other outside cornerback. He never withered under the glare of that spotlight, but he also led the league last season with eight defensive pass interference penalties.In this camp, Moss has blanketed Denver’s receivers while playing with clean technique. A prime example came during a 7-on-7 red zone drill in Tuesday’s camp practice. Quarterback Bo Nix stood in the pocket as he waited for Troy Franklin to emerge open on a drag route in the back of the end zone. Nix waited as long as he could to give Franklin a chance to separate, but Moss never conceded daylight. He easily knocked down Nix’s pass as it made its way to Franklin, never contacting the receiver.“My parents have always told me this: I like to learn the hard way,” Moss said of the penalty issues last season. “It actually helps me out in those situations because, yes, they’re going to throw the flag because I’m being too aggressive or whatever, but even (Joseph) will tell me, ‘Keep going out there. Keep playing aggressive.’ (The penalties) are in one ear and out the other. It happens. I know I need to do better as a whole this season, and I have been. It’s been a big focus of this camp, but I’m still going to play aggressive and not shy away from it.”Livingston sees a player who is trusting the “freak” traits within himself when the ball is in the air. When Moss studied some of his penalties last season, many of which came on deep passes in one-on-one coverage, a common thread was that Moss had an opportunity to make a play on the ball as opposed to simply trying to prevent the receiver from catching it. That focus on the finish of his coverage reps has been perhaps the most noticeable difference in this camp, as he has closed the gap on receivers who gain a step on him without panicking. It has led to an uptick in pass breakups.Moss’ strong camp is coming at the start of a contract year for the 2023 third-round pick out of Iowa. McMillian, set to play this year on a $5.7 million restricted free agent tender, is set to hit free agency in March. So, too, is Jones, who is in the final season of the three-year, $20 million contract he signed with the Broncos as a free agent in 2024. How the Broncos decide to handle those contract situations could depend, at least in part, on their view of Barron’s role going forward.The important thing for the 2026 Broncos, a team with Super Bowl aspirations, is that all of them will be on the roster this season.“I’m not going to put extra pressure on myself,” Moss said. “As we aren’t going to put extra pressure, as a team, on getting to where we want to get to. It’s day by day, be where your feet are at, compete, get better at one thing each day, and everything else will take care of itself.”