In peripherally seeing that the Denver Broncos had acquired wide receiver Jaylen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday, I shrugged and initially assumed they must have sent a third- or fourth-round draft pick back to South Beach.
Waddle isn’t a No. 1 wide receiver, but he’s a solid enough player still in his prime and adds an extra speed element to the Broncos’ WR unit, so, all right.
Then ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the actual details of the deal …
Denver is reportedly trading its 2026 first-round pick (30th overall) and third-round pick and swapping fourth-rounders with Miami.
For a No. 2 WR whose best season came four years ago …
Absolutely stunning.
This is what the Broncos have been working on all offseason while being the only team in the league not to sign a free agent from outside their own roster?
Did they not notice what the wide receiver trade market has been to this point?
The Pittsburgh Steelers stole Michael Pittman Jr. from the Indianapolis Colts by merely flipping their 2026 sixth-round pick for the Colts’ seventh-round pick.
The Buffalo Bills acquired DJ Moore from the Chicago Bears by flipping their second-round pick for a fifth-round pick.
A year ago, the Dallas Cowboys got George Pickens — a much better receiver than Waddle — from the Steelers for a 2026 third-round pick and flipping their 2027 fifth-round pick for a 2027 sixth-rounder.
Did Denver commit a clerical error in reporting the trade terms to the league?
All joking aside, we’re trying to make it make sense and see it from the Broncos’ point of view — but it’s difficult.
What Denver Gave Up To Acquire WR Jaylen Waddle
Per ESPN, the Broncos will only take on a $5-million salary cap hit for 2026 because Miami already paid a significant portion of Waddle’s 2026 guarantee, but Denver is on the hook for the rest with $41.2 million due over the next two seasons. (Waddle signed a three-year, $84.75-million extension in May of 2024, but NFL salary cap math might as well be Mandarin, so we’ll just go with ESPN’s report on how it breaks down for Denver.)
So if we’re rationalizing this move for Denver, it’s because Waddle’s contract fits nicely into the salary cap picture for 2026, he brings an element of speed the Broncos don’t otherwise have at the position and that they don’t feel they can address through the draft with the 30th overall pick.
That’s all well and good, but here again, how does trading a first- and third-round pick for a No. 2-caliber WR (an upper-tier No. 2) at all align with the market as it had been set?
The Broncos clearly disagree with that assessment and see Waddle as a No. 1-caliber WR (and others in NFL media also feel more favorably about the trade, but to each their own). Even accepting that as their misguided valuation of him, the cost still doesn’t make sense.
That’s the price that might seem justifiable to pry A.J. Brown away from the Eagles — not for Waddle when the Dolphins are clearly eager to strip their roster down of all expensive parts and embrace a total rebuild.
Per NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the Dolphins were firm in holding out for a first-round pick in return.
But was Miami going to actually turn down just the first-round pick (without the additional third-rounder) when it clearly wants to get rid of its expensive contracts (like it already did with WR Tyreek Hill, QB Tua Tagovailoa, DE Bradley Chubb and S Minkah Fitzpatrick) and go all-in on its rebuild? Who was Denver negotiating against here?
What Waddle Adds In Denver
Waddle had 64 catches for 910 yards and 6 TDs in 16 games last season for the Dolphins despite being the unquestioned No. 1 option after Tyreek Hill’s early-season injury. He was held to 52 yards or fewer in nine games. He had one 100-yard game (albeit three with at least 95 yards). And, he caught just 64 of 100 targets — the worst percentage of his career. Per PFF, his 85 passer rating when targeted ranked 57th among NFL WRs.
The previous year Waddle had 58 catches for 744 yards and 2 TDs while being held to 57 yards or fewer in 12 of the 15 games he played.
In five NFL seasons, he has one true standout year — 75 receptions for 1,356 yards and 8 TDs on a league-leading 18.1 yards per catch back in 2022.
His YPC averages in his other four seasons were 9.8, 14.1, 12.8 and 14.2. That last mark ranked 26th in the NFL this past season.
What in any of that screams elite No. 1 WR?
Sure, one can say Tagovailoa’s inconsistency, injuries, decline and general struggles limited Waddle’s potential perhaps, but Tagovailoa actually led the NFL in passing yards in 2023 with 4,624. That year, Waddle averaged 72.4 receiving yards in 14 games (which would average out to about 1,231 over a full season) as the secondary target to Hill. That’s like a peak Tee Higgins season in Cincinnati, and nobody is trading a first- and third-round pick for Higgins.
It’s not that Waddle won’t help the Broncos moving forward. Pairing him with Courtland Sutton gives Denver two upper-tier No. 2-caliber WRs (in our valuation), with Waddle a clear upgrade over still-developing, less-reliable young wideouts Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant and the underwhelming Marvin Mims Jr. The Broncos’ offense got better Tuesday, absolutely.
But the price!
So, Miami is the winner in this trade, but the real winner is the Eagles if they do end up moving their disgruntled star, true No. 1 WR Brown, because the Broncos just dramatically reset the market for what such a player costs.
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