Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BREAKING: Denver Broncos Make BLOCKBUSTER TRADE for Miami Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

The Denver Broncos have made their big splash in NFL Free Agency, making a BLOCKBUSTER trade with the Miami Dolphins for WR Jaylen Waddle. How does Waddle's addition impact Bo Nix and the Broncos offense? Plus, why is the trade even sweeter for the Broncos considering what they had to give up to get him?   Cody Roark breaks down the breaking news of Denver's trade for Waddle.   Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos.   WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT? For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today --   Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-broncos/   Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/   Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedinger Follow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos   Everydayer Club   If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to join -- https://lockedonbroncos.supercast.com/   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.   Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.   Robinhood You’re no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm.   FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.   5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon.     FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Denver Broncos make their big splash in NFL 380 trading for Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jalen Waddle. They land their big fish. You are locked on Broncos. Your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos country? I'm Cody Roar, Credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. Today's episode is a breaking news bonus episode as the Denver Broncos.

They finally make that big splash. and land their big fish, pun intended, acquiring wide receiver Jalen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins. And there are so many things that make this deal even sweeter for the Denver Broncos. We'll talk about Denver making this blockbuster trade for Waddle. Also what the wide receiver room looks like right now and why it's loaded for Bo Nix as he goes into his third season as the lead man under center here for the Broncos. Let's get into it, folks. Obviously, a very quiet NFL free agency for your Denver Broncos. That was one pain point.

a lot of fans were talking about that the Broncos, they have cap space. How come they're not going out there and getting Bo Nix a weapon? Well, George Peyton, Sean Peyton have said, hey, patience is a virtue. And the Broncos, they went out here on Tuesday and they made a big splash landing Jalen Waddle, a player who they had interest in initially during the NFL trade deadline. But at the time of the deadline, the asking price for Jalen Waddle was far too much, far too high for what the Broncos initially wanted to pay. now that they have assembled a new head coach and new staff.

Obviously, if they got rid of Tuatongo Vailoa, they're going through some changes over there in Miami. So the asking price, not necessarily as high as what it initially was. The Denver Broncos, they will give the dolphins the 30th overall pick, which is their first round pick. And then they'll give them their third and fourth round picks, which are the 30th overall picks in rounds three and four as well. The Broncos, they get Waddle, an elite level wide receiver,

a wide receiver won for this offense, and they get the Miami Dolphins for. round pick, which is the 11th selection in the fourth round. And the best part about this move, folks, the Broncos, they didn't have to get rid of any of their players. They get to keep this nucleus intact, specifically, the wide receiver room that the Broncos were already high on as is with Cortland Sutton, Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims, Pat Bryant. And you can include right now, Lord Jordan Humphrey, who's on the training camp roster, at least after they re-signed him in free agency, the Broncos have a loaded wide receiver room. But this is going to do a lot of things

here for the offense. We'll talk about that and how this benefits Bo Nix a little bit later here in the show, but let's go back to the initial reaction here of the Broncos landing Waddle. You look at his performance, his production of the course of his first five seasons in the NFL, and the Miami Dolphins had at one point, one of the most electrifying offenses in today's modern football. Nothing will beat the Peyton Manning 2013 Broncos led offense, but the Miami Dolphins of Jalen Waddle, man, they have been spectacular. Of the last two years, the Dolphins it has sputtered. But you look at his first three seasons around the NFL, his rookie year, he had 1,000 yards receiving in 16 games. He had 105 catches. He was a guy that was a high,

volume, wide receiver. His targets that year, he saw 140 total targets as a rookie, which that's a lot to put on the plate of a rookie, but man, he was electrifying there. Six touchdowns as a rookie here. Then the next season, he had his best year as a pro. 17 games played 75 catches, which was a drastic reduction from his 104. He had as a rookie, but he had 1,300 yards receiving. He was averaging 18.1 yards per catch, eight touchdowns that season for him. Then he followed up the next year, played in 14 games for the dolphins in 2023. That was here the Broncos got boat raced by the dolphins, 70 to 20 in that game.

10, 1,014 yards on 72 catches that year. Four touchdowns for him still very productive, even though he missed three games. 2024. This was where the Dolphins offense really kind of fell off a little bit. Tootung of Iloa struggles really started to get amplified. 58 catches for him, which was a career low in 2024, 744 yards, two touchdowns for him. So not the productive year that he wanted, but saw a little bit of a bump and an increase, obviously last season. 64 catches, 910 yards, 14 yards per reception, and six touchdowns. The thing I like about Waddle, he is now Denver's wide.

receiver one. I mean, you can make the argument he and Cortland Suttoner 1A, 1B. You're getting an impact player here. But this opens things up here for the Broncos offense, getting a player like him that is a proven chain mover, folks. If you don't believe me, in his first five seasons, he has 252 first downs, right? Three hundred and seventy three total catches. Two hundred and fifty two of those catches move the chains for a first down. Twenty-sixth of those, three hundred and 73 catches are touchdowns. The Broncos are landing an elite level player to pair alongside Bo Nix and this very, very talented wide receiver room that Denver is very high on behind the scenes here. Coming up next, we're going to tell you what this Broncos wide receiver room

looks like. What roles will be established for these guys out there to the Broncos made a big splash blockbuster trade here for Jalen Waddle. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by friends over there at Indie. Folks, if you're dealing with workplace chaos, deadline stacking up and your inbox is overflowing. The one position that you have to feel is still sitting open. Well, guess what? When the pressure is on and you need the right hire, this is a job for Indeed,

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Broncos country rejoice. Your big NFL offseason move has happened for the Debra Broncos who believe that they can win a Super Bowl with Bo Nix going out there and landing. Jailin Waddle, them that type of assurance. I want to say thanks to all of you for being in every day or thanks for making us your first list in Broncos country. We appreciate you so much here. Let's talk about this Broncos wide receiver room now that Jaylon Waddle has been added into the mix. I made the comment earlier that for Cortland Sutton and Jalen Waddle, you can look at these two guys as 1A, 1B. Cortland Sutton's got the big body skill set. Jailen Wattel is the guy you can move all around offensively. You can play outside. You can play in the slot. You can be the motion guy here

that Sean Payton certainly likes to get movement to isolate different matchups here. And this will now, in my opinion, on paper at least, with Davis Webb as the play caller, it'll open some things up for the Broncos offense to unlock itself a little bit further. Where last year, Cortland Sutton, we all knew was the Broncos wide receiver one. But the problem with Cortland, the issue that he ran into was beyond his control. He would get bracket coverage consistently. I'm talking from weeks one all the way through the AFC championship game, teams were trying to take away Cortland Sutton because they knew that was Bo Nix's easy button.

And with a lack of a pass catching tight end and an inconsistent run game, teams knew that, hey, Denver's going to be in situations where they have to throw the football. Bo Nix had the most passing attempts in the NFL last season. And now you add a guy like Jalen Waddle who can be a dynamic threat against man coverage or zone coverage in the slot on the other side of Cortland Sutton on the outside or even next to Cortland Sutton. It is going to make it harder for teams in the too high shell that we see now today's NFL to just consistently bracket cork. You're going to have to worry about what Jalen Waddle is doing.

You're going to have to worry about Marvin Ames. You're going to have to worry about Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant. The Broncos wide receiver room now is loaded. And I think adding a player like Jalen Waddle, and I've been on the record of saying this, or even if the Broncos were gone or if they were to make a trade for A.J. Brown instead of Waddle, Denver adding another dynamic wide receiver takes that pressure off of Cortland, but will now allow guys like Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin to thrive more and maybe some one-on-one situation.

because if defenses try to focus on Waddle, well, now you get more one-on-ones with Cortland Sutton. If they try to take away Cortland, you get one-on-ones with Jalen Waddle, if teams try to allocate bracket coverage or two-man under, if they're on opposite sides of the field where they're going to have a corner playing underneath and a safety over the top, well, guess what?

Marvin Mims, Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant, how you doing? That's what opens things up here for Denver offensively, and that's why this deal is so sweet for Denver. You get rid of draft capital, right? Denver had nine picks in this year's draft. Yes, they're not going to have their first. rounder or their third or their fourth, but they're getting the dolphins fourth. They're going to have a second round pick and they get a proven playmaker that's going to get

added to the mix. That is so different here now for Denver versus just hoping and praying that you can maybe land a really good prospect with the 30th overall pick. You run the risk of player development, not necessarily being at your pace when you decide to go with the path of the NFL draft, which is why I think a lot of people in Broncos country were a little frustrated at Denver's initial approach here in free agency. But I've very much. believe that this roster as is right now with wide receiver with the addition of Jalen Waddle, man, this offense is certainly going to take off Broncos country. That's one thing that certainly excites me.

But I think this is also an indication for George and for Sean that they are pushing the chips in here for Bo Nix as he goes into his third season in the NFL. When you look at how they've built the offense, they're bringing back the same exact offensive line that Bo has had. So you maintain continuity for Bow's third season. you have the same starting offensive line. That is huge. You believe that your run game can start to take off

if you make some tweaks here with J.K. Dobbins returning with RJ Harvey, obviously being a special young player that they are very high on. And then you factor in this really good wide receiver room that the Broncos have committed to that they have said, we like our room. We're not going to get rid of any of these guys. We believe that Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin,

Marvin Nims can excel and play a big role for us. Now you add waddle into the mix with this room. It is nice. Have fun. if you're an opposing defense trying to cover this. And here's where the perfect scenario works out, right? Let's say the Broncos run game scheme gets fixed. And all of a sudden, the Broncos can run the football really well.

It opens so much up for Bonnix and the passing attack. And when you factor in all these wide receivers, you are going to have essentially on paper right now a pick your poison. And I'll be curious to see how defenses try to adjust from this in terms of personnel and what they allocate towards their coverage resources. Are they going to blitz a lot more? They're going to play a lot more zone cover? Denver saw too much zone coverage last year.

And when you could bracket, let's say you can play man to one side, you can play zone on the other and you can bracket away the top receiver, not having another guy who could be a proven playmaker for you can certainly hurt. And that's where the Broncos, I mean, that's why we saw Troy Franklin rise up a little bit last year. He was the playmaker for Denver's offense. He was the guy seeing a larger volume of targets on third down because Cortland Sutton wasn't available on third down because of how teams were covering him.

Jalen Waddle is going to open things up, significantly for this offense. And I'm so curious to see how Sean Payton and Davis Webb expand this offense and allow it to grow. Denver believed they had a roster last year that could win a Super Bowl. There were a few plays shy of that. Bo Nix's injury didn't help this situation here. But now the Broncos have the playmakers on offense to go out there and make it happen.

And this is a move that moves the needle for the Broncos going into this upcoming season. Broncos country, I think it'll shift some dynamics about some of the betting lines out there. The Broncos, they were initially third in terms of projected finish inside the AFC West in 2026 by some of these lines. I think this move changes everything for them. The Broncos, they're showing that they're going all in with Bow Nix on a rookie deal, getting him a true legitimate playmaker to pair up with Cortland Sutton and investing further in the development of their younger, talented, wide receivers. This Broncos offense on paper, folks, should be drastically better than what we saw in the last handful of years from them,

even last year, it should be more consistent, and Jalen Waddle is a dangerous, dangerous player to add into the mix here. This is the Broncos big splash this off season. And I think it changes the entire perception of how the Broncos approach free agency initially. Broncos, how you feel in after this move? Make sure you let us know here on today's episode. Lockdown Broncos, appreciate you for being in every day. Thanks for making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. And you're already in every day, but I want to invite you to join the Everydayer Club, folks.

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Again, it's all free with promo code March. Thank you so much, Brockos Country. Sarah and I are going to have a bigger reaction to this, the widespread proportions of this on tomorrow's episode, Locked on Broncos.