Broncos Country Gives Top Grade To Jaylen Waddle Trade

So funny story…

Earlier this week when it came time to turn in our question for a SB Nation Reacts survey by FanDuel and then ask you all to weigh in with your votes, the only free agents the Denver Broncos had signed were their own.

Seventeen of them, in fact. And at the time they were the only team not to sign any outside agents.

So we published our poll and asked you if the Broncos should still try to sign free agents or move on to the Draft to fill their needs.

Most of you thought the Broncos should not be done.

And as if George Paton were reading Mile High Report and realized there was work to be done — or just wanted to make our poll moot — he traded dem picks for former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

In exchange for Denver’s first-round pick (No. 30), third-round pick (No. 94) and a fourth-round pick (No. 130) in this year’s Draft, the Broncos acquired the sixth-overall pick in 2021 who has three 1,000-yard seasons in his first five years in the league — just one of 16 players in the NFL to do that since 2021.

And in each of his five NFL seasons, Waddle has at least 58 catches and 744 yards. In 2025, he caught 64 passes for 910 yards and six touchdowns.

The 2021 sixth-overall pick has recorded three 1,000-yard seasons in his first five years in the league, including a career-high 1,356 yards and eight touchdowns in 2022. Waddle is one of 16 players in the league to record at least three 1,000-yard seasons since 2021.

Waddle has recorded at least 58 catches and 744 yards in each of his five NFL seasons, and he caught 64 passes for 910 yards and six touchdowns in 2025.

“It’s exciting … just playing with great players,” Waddle said Wednesday during his introductory press conference. “Everyone is talking about how great and close the team is. I’m excited to be around the guys, get to know them, and they get to know me and go from there.”

And as to be expected, that trade was pretty popular here, with 60% giving the trade an A and another 36% a B. As a professor I can say that’s a healthy majority offering a “very good” or “outstanding” evaluation of the deal.