The first week of Broncos training camp has already uncorked a couple of surprises within the depth chart.

Second-year safety Rahim Moore, who was a second-round pick in the 2011 draft, was handed a starting job immediately in his first training camp last summer.

The immediate gratification of a starting job will always test a rookie’s maturity and ability, especially one who missed offseason workouts because of the NFL lockout. Moore struggled with those items last season, missing assignments and tackles and committing poorly timed penalties.

As a result, Moore went from being a starter at the beginning of the 2011 season to being a healthy inactive for the Broncos’ playoff win over the Steelers and a bit player in the playoff loss to New England the following week.

Moore, Quinton Carter and free-agent acquisition Mike Adams rotated at the two safety spots in the organized team activities and minicamp this offseason. But Moore and Adams have lined up with the No. 1 defense in training camp.

If the Broncos are going to play a single safety deep, as they often did last season, and Moore is that safety, he will be the last line of defense. So he can’t miss opportunities to get receivers and runners to the ground. Too often last season, Moore took poor angles or didn’t finish plays, sliding off at first contact.

“It’s like night and day,” said cornerback Champ Bailey. “You can see the difference. But he had a lot more time this offseason to get himself ready to go and he probably understands more about what it takes to be the kind of player he can be. I think he’s going to do some great things for us.”

Eaton product Mitch Unrein, meanwhile, just keeps plugging along at defensive tackle. He has made the climb from a player the Texans released to the Denver practice squad, all the way to a rotation player in the Denver defense.

Second-round rookie Derek Wolfe is too talented and too intense not to get playing time this year. But when veteran Justin Bannan was held out of practice this week because of a calf injury, Unrein took snaps with the No. 1 defense alongside Ty Warren.

“(The coaches) kind of told me I’d probably be with the threes, but then Justin was out and they told me to get in with the starters,” Unrein said. “So you go in and try to show you’re ready to be in there. I’ve really tried to get myself ready for any opportunity, because you don’t really know if you’ll get one play or 10. So get ready to do what you can.

“I kind of know my future is to make it as a (defensive tackle). There’s so many good athletes in the NFL playing on the outside, I didn’t really have the speed to do that. There are some specimens in the NFL on the outside, as everybody knows, so my chance to make it was really going to be inside at tackle.”

Jeff Legwold: jlegwold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jeff_legwold