Jaylen Waddle has returned to practice for the Denver Broncos after leaving training camp due to "muscle tightness" on August 5.
The return of Waddle is obviously fantastic news, but the Broncos need to make sure they do whatever needs to be done in order to avoid a repeat of the Dre Greenlaw disaster from training camp last season.
The situations for Waddle and Greenlaw are not identical, and they can't be treated as such, but both of those players were acquired with the idea in mind that they could be the "missing piece" for the Broncos on either side of the ball. Last year, it was Greenlaw for the defense, and this year, it's Waddle for the offense.
Unfortunately, we never really got to see Greenlaw fulfill that prophecy for the Denver defense. He was limited to just 10 total games (8 regular season, 2 playoffs) before the Broncos decided to cut bait and move on after the season. Any sort of repeat of that situation with Waddle has to be avoided at all costs.
Jaylen Waddle returns to Broncos practice, but they aren't out of the woods yet
Sean Payton was complaining recently about the number of soft tissue injuries happening at Broncos training camp, and that the staff needed to figure out a way to get them under control.
"We have to get a handle on some of the soft tissues. We’ve had a couple either strains, hamstring or groins. We continue to fight through that."
- Sean Payton (via Broncos PR on August 10)
That statement was made on the day JK Dobbins left practice with an injury, which was also a day in which the Broncos stretched after practice in addition to before. Payton said the post-practice stretching was a direct response to the soft tissue injuries piling up at training camp, so it's obviously something they are aware of and working to figure out.
Injuries are part of the game, unfortunately, but the Broncos have done a pretty phenomenal job of keeping players on the field, at least for the most part. They haven't been immune to injuries, but they do a great job of prevention and recovery compared to the rest of the NFL.
Unfortunately, injuries have still been a major part of this team's story. They lost JK Dobbins last season, and it derailed the running game completely. They lost Bo Nix at the end of the AFC Divisional Round victory. And they were without Dre Greenlaw for much of last season, but that situation was pretty disastrous from the start.
Greenlaw suffered a quad injury while working out during the offseason. He came back during training camp and tweaked the injury, which caused him to miss time at the start of the season.
And that is precisely the situation the Broncos have to avoid with Waddle in 2026.
While Greenlaw played a handful of games for the Broncos, his impact was sporadic. His time spent recovering from injury cost him dearly when it came to on-field reps and knowing the defense, and he made mention of that at his exit interview when the season was over. He compared learning the defense to seeing Spanish.
Everyone was wondering why Greenlaw was still splitting time with Justin Strnad when he returned to the field, and assumed it was part of his physical recovery process. It wasn't. It was related to his knowledge of the scheme.
Missed practice time can be costly in a number of ways. The fact that Waddle is back at practice 12 days after leaving due to an injury is certainly good news, but the last thing anyone wants is for him to be missing a bunch of time at the start of the regular season, where the Broncos face a six-game gauntlet to open the year.
Now that Waddle has returned to practice, it's going to be fascinating to see whether or not he plays in Friday's preseason game against the Packers. Assuming he practices fully all week, there's at least a chance it could happen, and we could see the debut of Waddle coincide with the preseason debut of quarterback Bo Nix.
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