The story of Dondrea Tillman’s career is rapidly becoming the story of his 2025 season. Right place, right time, as opportunities few have seen coming fell into his lap. He’s snatched them and run with them.
And run hard.
With the Raiders near midfield on a crucial third down on Thursday night, Tillman — an increasingly important component of Vance Joseph’s Broncos defense — started to creep in on quarterback Geno Smith from the outside. Running back Ashton Jeanty flared out from the backfield, though, and Tillman backpedaled to catch up. Smith’s delivery to the rookie Jeanty popped right off his hands, did an end-over-end parabola and fell directly into Tillman’s waiting arms.
The 6-foot-4, 247-pound outside linebacker then cradled the rock in his right arm, turned upfield like a receiver, and flashed right past a would-be Raiders tackler on a 23-yard return.
“Look at him gallop!” announcer Al Michaels cried.
The interception leader on a Broncos defense approaching historically great status? Tillman, a player who didn’t receive a single Division I offer out of high school, played Division II ball at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and was discovered by scout Ish Seisay in the UFL.
Twice in the past three weeks, Tillman has electrified Broncos Country with athleticism that flipped the field. He put Javonte Williams in the dirt and sped for 36 yards on a pick of Dak Prescott in Week 8 against the Cowboys.
Social media fired off a slew of jokes that the Broncos should throw Tillman on offense. Really, this is only a sliver of a joke. Because Tillman was quick enough to play tight end in high school.
“He would’ve been an undersized tight end,” Tillman’s high school coach Jason Allen told The Denver Post on Friday. “Could he have done it? Oh, yeah.
“I mean, when we would do blocking drills, he would run people off the football.”
In an alternate universe, there’s a world in which Virginia’s Potomac Falls High ran a one-tight-end system in the mid-2010s under Allen. In an alternate universe, Tillman could’ve switched over from the defensive line and taken a different collegiate path. But Potomac Falls already had a good tight end, Allen said, and needed more help on the defensive front. So Tillman stuck there.
This didn’t stop Allen from tossing Tillman in at tight end in short-yardage or red-zone situations, though. And if Tillman had the ball in his hands in high school, there were two certainties: He’d either “run you over, or run by you,” Allen said.
“He’s kind of sneaky fast and quick,” Allen said. “You don’t think so. But boy, he’s on you so quick – you thought it would’ve been different. And then he could put a move on you, and you’re like, ‘How does this guy move his hips so well, and has such quick feet?’”
This current reality is working out just fine for the Broncos. After a first year in Denver thriving as a pass-rusher in limited time (five sacks in 12 games), Tillman is playing a key role in Joseph’s edge rotation. Despite a profile as a power-rusher — a “finisher,” as Joseph called him in training camp — Tillman has spent considerably more time against the run and in coverage than he did as a rookie.
It’s paying off. The cornerback group is “kinda upset” with Tillman, he joked, because the outside linebacker is outpacing all of them in takeaways.
“That came out of nowhere,” Tillman said Thursday.
Tillman came out of nowhere to star at IUP and came out of nowhere to win a few rings in the UFL for the Birmingham Stallions. He has also come out of nowhere in Denver. His role should continue to grow after fellow reserve OLB Jonah Elliss suffered a hamstring injury against the Raiders on Thursday.
“The story is not done unless you want it to be done,” Allen said. “And I think that’s the beauty of him.”
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
