The Broncos have their playmaker.
After a quiet opening week to free agency, Denver took a major swing Tuesday, agreeing to acquire star Miami wide receiver Jaylen Waddle in a trade, sources confirmed to The Post.
The Broncos are trading their first-round pick in next month’s draft (No. 30 overall), along with late third (No. 94) and fourth-round selections (No. 130), to the Dolphins for Waddle and a fourth-round pick (No. 111).
Waddle, 27, had 910 yards and six touchdowns during the 2025 season. His most productive years were his first two in the NFL, including a 1,356-yard Year 2 in 2022.
It’s a move that suddenly recontextualizes the Broncos’ entire offseason approach, which puzzled fans as Denver stood pat and didn’t sign a single external free agent through the initial couple of waves of the open market.
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) runs with the ball during an NFL football game against the New York Jets, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
In the background throughout last week, though, the Broncos were talking with the Dolphins about their star receiver. Denver checked on Waddle at last year’s November trading deadline, but serious talks never developed, sources told The Post. That was also under a different regime. After the season, Miami fired GM Chris Grier and coach Mike McDaniel and replaced them with John Eric-Sullivan and Jeff Hafley, respectively.
Coming out of the NFL Combine earlier this month, sources said, Denver general manager George Paton and company started talks with the new Dolphins regime on Waddle. This time, they got serious over the course of about two weeks, and conversations intensified in the last 48 hours.
The final price tag is steep. Denver is giving up its first-round pick for the first time since surrendering two for quarterback Russell Wilson in the spring of 2022. The Broncos’ first pick in next month’s draft is now No. 62. Following that, Denver has Nos. 108, 111, 170, 246, 256 and 257.
It is worth noting that Denver used all its picks in this year’s draft and none from what is widely expected to be an exceptionally deep 2027 draft. At present, the Broncos are projected to have 10 picks in that draft.
A difference-maker at WR
Waddle now, according to a source, will travel to Denver on Tuesday. He’ll take a physical and, assuming no unforeseen issues, the deal will become official.
Jaylen Waddle #17 of the Miami Dolphins looks on during warmups prior to the game against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Oct. 26, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
The Waddle acquisition addresses both top-end upside in the room and a deeper depth of weapons entering quarterback Bo Nix’s third season in the NFL, as the Broncos’ receiving corps ran dry in the team’s season-ending AFC Championship Game loss to the New England Patriots. As Denver backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham struggled to gain any traction in the snow with No. 2 receiver Troy Franklin and No. 3 Pat Bryant out with injuries, the Broncos were down to a group of Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims Jr., Lil’Jordan Humphrey and practice-squad elevation Elijah Moore.
Two days after the season ended, Paton said he didn’t regret standing pat at the trade deadline, and that he didn’t believe the crop of available receivers would’ve “made much of a difference for us.”
“I don’t think receiving group held us back from this game,” Paton said then. “I don’t look at it like that. But we got some young receivers like Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin, Mimsy. And I don’t think that’s the reason we didn’t make the Super Bowl. I think those guys, they’re all right. They had good years.”
Courtland Sutton (14) of the Denver Broncos draws a key pass interference call on Taron Johnson (7) of the Buffalo Bills during overtime of the Broncos’ 33-30 win at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Waddle is a difference-maker, though, now coming in to helm that group of youngsters alongside Sutton, a 2025 Pro Bowler. His ability to work between the hashes and in the intermediate area of the field addresses a glaring need for Nix: 57% of Waddle’s receiving yards in 2025 came on targets between 10-19 air yards (according to Next Gen Stats), and 40% of those yards came across the intermediate center of the field, according to Pro Football Focus.
By comparison, just 13% of Sutton’s yards in 2025 came in that intermediate area of the field, with 7% for Franklin, 13% for Bryant, and 13% for Mims, according to Pro Football Focus.
Bama reunion in Denver
Born in Houston, Texas, the 27-year-old Waddle starred for three years at Alabama from 2018 to 2020, leading the country in punt-return yards in 2019 and the SEC in yards-per-reception in 2020. He played all three seasons with current Broncos All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II, and the two have remained close friends since. Both are represented for financial matters by agent Tory Dandy and for marketing matters by Fortify Management Group.
Shortly after the trade became public, Waddle posted an Instagram story of him FaceTiming Surtain, the two contemporaries both smiling widely.
The former Crimson Tide stars will now have a chance to share a practice field again in Denver, as the best cornerback in the NFL will go head-to-head in Dove Valley against one of the top-producing wideouts in the NFL over the last five seasons. After Miami took Waddle with the sixth pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Waddle burst onto the scene as a rookie with 104 catches in 15 games.
After three straight 1,000-yard seasons, Waddle’s production dropped in 2024 amid an injury-plagued season for then-Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, finishing with just 58 catches for 744 yards and two touchdowns in 15 games. In five seasons with the Dolphins, Waddle has amassed 5,039 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Part of Waddle’s value is that he is under contract through the 2028 season, following a three-year extension with the Dolphins in 2024.
Waddle has $16.6 million in guaranteed money for this season, and another $15.2 million guaranteed for 2027. In March next year, an additional $8.2 million for 2027 becomes guaranteed. Practically speaking, then, Waddle has $40 million guaranteed over the next two seasons.
Waddle has an option bonus due March 20 this year, which likely gives the Broncos some flexibility in how they account for his 2026 money on their salary cap. If the bonus is exercised and all of Waddle’s salary is prorated to a signing bonus, he will count just $4.9 million against Denver’s 2026 cap, according to OvertheCap data.
Currently, his 2027 and 2028 salary cap numbers for the Broncos are $27 million and $29.4 million, respectively.
Denver, though, has plenty of time to work through how those numbers fit into their picture, if they want to try to extend Waddle again or restructure his deal to create short-term cap space.
On Tuesday, the feeling in the team’s facility and across the roster was much simpler.
The Broncos got their guy.
This story will be updated.
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