The Denver Broncos were one game away from making the Super Bowl during the 2025 NFL Season, and when free agency opened, many fans fairly believed that the team would be aggressive to fill in the remaining roster holes to truly have a Super Bowl squad.
But in the eyes of many, free agency was a dud, as the team re-signed many of their own players, but many of those players didn't seem to contribute at a high enough level to warrant returning to the team.
Soon enough, though, the Jaylen Waddle trade went down, finally putting into view the Broncos plan this offseason. The Waddle trade, coupled with Denver's deliberate NFL Draft plan, has given the team what could be the most talented group this century, and a once-dysfunctional position now seems to be one of strength.
Denver Broncos have two WRs in PFF's top-32 rankings for 2026
Both Waddle and Courtland Sutton made an appearance on PFF's top 32 receiver rankings for the 2026 season:
"15. Jaylen Waddle, Denver Broncos
After five seasons with the Dolphins, Waddle was traded to the Broncos, giving Denver some much-needed speed at wide receiver. Despite inconsistent quarterback play from Tua Tagovailoa, Waddle earned a 90.6 career PFF receiving grade with the Dolphins. His 5,039 receiving yards since entering the league in 2021 rank 10th in the NFL, although he has fallen short of 1,000 receiving yards in each of the past two seasons
25. Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos
Sutton turned in his second consecutive 1,000-yard season while earning at least a 74.0 PFF receiving grade for the third straight year. Since the start of the 2023 season, Sutton ranks sixth among wide receivers in receiving touchdowns (25) and second in contested catches (49). Jaylen Waddle's presence should give Sutton even more opportunities against single coverage in 2026."
Seeing two Broncos receivers on this list honestly feels like a dream come true, and it was the front office that clearly thought another addition in this room was needed. The Broncos, according to Pro Football Reference, had 43 drops last year, with the wide receiver drops looking like this:
Courtland Sutton: 8
Troy Franklin: 4
Pat Bryant: 3
Marvin Mims Jr: 1
Lil'Jordan Humphrey: 1
The issue, as we have talked about, was that the team's wide receiver room was all in a spot too high on the depth chart. Sutton's skill set at this point in time is much more conducive of a true WR2 in this league, while Waddle, on the other hand, has a WR1 profile and could even slide into a 1A-1B role with Sutton.
Waddle landed at 15th on PFF's list, and Sutton landed at 25th, which feels very fair given how many talented receivers there are in the league. In Waddle's five years in the NFL, he not only has over 5,000 yards, but he has three 1,000-yard seasons and averages 1,098 yards and six touchdowns over a 17-game season.
Sutton, who has played eight years in the league, also has three 1,000-yard seasons and averages 940 yards and six touchdowns over a 17-game season. Both Waddle and Sutton are plenty good enough to each have 1,000 yards in 2026, and the Broncos, with this trade, suddenly found themselves with one of the better WR duos in the league.
For a position that was once a bit of a mess for Denver, it's nice to see that the front office finally corrected the issues here and got aggressive at the right position and at the right time.
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