ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When assessing the No. 30 overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft, the Denver Broncos identified a handful of players who they believed they could target at that spot. Then they looked at Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
The Broncos decided Waddle would help a team that finished one win short of a Super Bowl spot last season far more than anyone they would get with their first-round pick. That’s why they sent three picks (the No. 30 selection plus their third- and fourth-rounders) to Miami on March 17 for Waddle and a fourth-round pick. Waddle was the team’s biggest offseason acquisition, and Broncos coach Sean Payton excitedly expressed optimism about how the 27-year-old fits into Denver’s offense.
“We could safely say that pick would’ve been one of these seven or eight players,” Payton said. “We didn’t feel like that would help us as much as Jaylen Waddle.”
Denver’s offense was in search of big-play mojo — the Broncos went three-and-out at the fourth highest rate in the league last season (25% of drives) — and gets an explosive receiver who Payton said can line up anywhere in the formation. The Broncos briefly kicked the tires on trading for Waddle last fall before closing the deal in March.
“We had an interest at the trade deadline, I think that everyone knows that,” Broncos general manager George Paton said at the league meetings earlier this week. “It didn’t get very far then, but we still liked the player a lot. … Obviously we did a lot of work on him … and we felt like we knew the player well and we knew the person even better.”
The personal aspect was just as much a part of Waddle becoming a Bronco as his elite speed, production (three career 1,000-yard seasons) and ability to unlock catch-and-run opportunities. Waddle said his long friendship with Broncos All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II will give him a headstart when he arrives in the locker room this spring.
Waddle and Surtain were teammates at Alabama from 2018-2020 and have remained close. Waddle said his conversations with Surtain following the trade have him prepared for Payton’s approach to practices, which can be longer than many teams in the regular season, and the Broncos’ game-week process.
“[Surtain] was one of the first calls that I made,” Waddle said. “We talked about this early in our career, we wanted to get together and play with each other. Just seeing it happen is special. We kept in contact through the years when Coach Payton’s been here so [Surtain] has been keeping me in the loop without even knowing.”
Payton said this week that former Alabama coach Nick Saban was one of the people the Broncos contacted to determine how Waddle would fit in a locker room that Payton declared as one of his favorites as a head coach. It’s a big reason why the Broncos’ main free agency priority has been maintaining last year’s squad, as they’ve re-signed 17 of their 21 players who were set to be unrestricted, restricted or exclusive rights free agents.
“I’m very close with [quarterback] Teddy Bridgewater [who played under Payton in New Orleans and with Waddle in Miami]. We’re very close with Coach Saban and we’re close with a lot of people who have had the chance to work with [Waddle],” Payton said this week. “Whenever you get into a big-name free agent or a trade of this magnitude, all the other stuff is important to research. When it comes to Waddle’s all the other stuff, [the ratings were] 10, 10, 10, 10, 10.”
On the field, Waddle’s catch-and-run abilities in the intermediate and deep areas will impact the Broncos’ offense. Quarterback Bo Nix, who led the NFL with 612 pass attempts this past season, was far less accurate down the field, completing 38.7% of his attempts of 20 or more yards. Meanwhile, Waddle’s yards per route (2.3) was 11th best in the league last season, well ahead of the highest-ranked Broncos receiver on the list (Courtland Sutton was 43rd with 1.8).
Waddle’s 64 catches, 910 receiving yards and six touchdowns last season would have ranked third, second and second for the Broncos in 2025, respectively. He set the league’s rookie record with 104 catches in 2021, and his 18.1 yards per catch in 2022 led the NFL. Since entering the league in 2021, Waddle has the 10th-most receiving yards among wide receivers and ranks 11th in yards after the catch.
Payton said Waddle’s precision as route runner, as well as his ability to get in and out of cuts, gives the Broncos the ability to put him anywhere in the formation.
“I’ve seen him outside as a tremendous route runner [and] inside, the route tree is pretty expansive,” Payton said. “He’s explosive, he’s dynamic. A lot of times, the guys run fast, but I think he sinks his hips in transition. I think you’ll see him play inside in the slot; you’ll see him outside. We’ll have speed packages that will feature [him].”
It will also help the Broncos pull some coverage away from Sutton, who has had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. But Sutton’s production suffered down the stretch last season due to injuries to other receivers. He had only 12 receptions in his final four games, including playoffs. And his three receptions in the AFC Championship Game loss to the Patriots gained only 17 yards.
Waddle’s arrival figures to push the Broncos into even more three-wide receiver sets than last season, when they finished seventh in the league there. In the end, the Broncos needed a player like Waddle, and Payton said the transition will be much easier once the team sees the type of person Waddle is.
“Well, I think my experience is when the locker room is kind of where we have it, if you can help us, come on in,” Payton said. “I think whenever you are able to bring in someone that is highly competitive, his personality and all of those things I think the good teams welcome those players.”
