Sean Keeler: Broncos trade for Jaylen Waddle just made AFC's best team even better

Sean Keeler, The Denver Post on Mar 17, 2026

Published in Football

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DENVER — Too steep a price? Nix, Nix! The Broncos put up seven catches of 40 yards or more as a team last season. Jaylen Waddle posted three. All by himself.

Waddle has averaged four broken tackles per season since 2021. Courtland Sutton has averaged 1.2. Marvin Mims Jr. has averaged 1.3. Troy Franklin has averaged two.

No more stodgy screens. No more trying to chase points with singles hitters. Sean Payton and George Paton are swinging for the fences, baby. Waddle, the wide receiver reportedly acquired Tuesday in a blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins, is Denver’s biggest home-run threat this side of Hunter Goodman.

The former Alabama star can turn a 7-yard slant into a 35-yard house call.

You can split him out wide. You can stick him in the slot. You can run him out of the Wildcat or from the wishbone. The only limits to Waddle are a surgically repaired ankle and Payton’s imagination.

The Super Bo dream is alive and kicking. Bo Nix has a toy half the AFC would kill to play with. The Broncos landed A.J. Brown without the drama.

No, he didn’t come cheap. The law firm of Payton & Paton is sending Miami their first-round pick (No. 30), as well as selections in the third and fourth rounds, for Waddle and a fourth-rounder in return.

But he’s worth it. Every pick. Every hypothetical. Trading for Waddle is a win-now move, the kind of gambit you make when you’re a team that was a bum ankle and a snowstorm away from a Super Bowl last year.

Waddle’s cap number of $4.9 million jumps to $27 million in ’26 and $30 million in ’27. In terms of guarantees, it’s closer to a two-year deal on the books worth about $41.2 million, according to Spotrac.com.

The Broncos still have pick No. 62, late in the second round. Last year’s wideouts taken from picks 25-75 averaged numbers pretty similar to what Pat Bryant III put up in 2025 — 31 catches, 378 receiving yards, one receiving touchdown, three drops.

Since 2023, Waddle has averaged 15 games, 65 catches, 889 receiving yards, four scores and five drops. Sure, a rookie such as Omar Cooper of Indiana would be cost-effective with that second-round pick, assuming he was on the board. But every first-year wideout is also a roll of the dice.

Speaking of taking chances, we won’t lie — Waddle’s drop numbers conjure up some Jerry Jeudy flashbacks. Then again, Payton has never suffered fools gladly, and the former Dolphins target brings a different skill set to the table.

As a 5-foot-11 speedster, the newest Bronco is as much a utility/slot/gadget option as a WR2. If anything, on paper, he’s a pricier version of Mims. And besides the draft capital, if there’s a down side Tuesday’s big swing, it’s that Waddle may very well cut into whatever looks/packages were planned for Mims, who’s always deserved more touches.

Then again, you can never have too much of a good thing in a league where catastrophic injuries run rampant. If nothing else, the Broncos can quietly explore the market for Mims, who’s heading into a contract year, or the market for Franklin, who’s got an extremely friendly cap number ($1.29 million this season) for a potential WR3/WR4.

Meanwhile, a Denver offense with four Oregon Ducks just added some serious Waddle. And for the first time in what feels like forever, the Broncos acted like a contender. Bills fans are gnashing teeth. Chiefs fans are raising eyebrows. In grabbing Waddle, the best team in the AFC — don’t kid yourselves, Patriots Nation — didn’t just get faster. It got better.