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Jeff Legwold
Marcel Louis-Jacques
Marcel Louis-Jacques
ESPN
Marcel Louis-Jacques joined ESPN in 2019 as a beat reporter covering the Buffalo Bills, before switching to the Miami Dolphins in 2021. The former Carolina Panthers beat writer for the Charlotte Observer won the APSE award for breaking news and the South Carolina Press Association award for enterprise writing in 2018.
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The Denver Broncos finally looked outside their own locker room to help their offense with a trade to acquire wide receiver Jaylen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins.
The Broncos received Waddle as well as the Dolphins’ fourth-round pick (111th overall) while the Broncos sent their first-round pick (30th) as well as third- and fourth-round picks (94th and 130th) to Miami.
“It’s the NFL. You never know what’s for sure and what could happen,” Waddle said. “It’s part of the business.”
The Broncos had been the only team that had not added a player from another team since free agency opened last week. Instead, they re-signed 17 of their 21 unrestricted, restricted and exclusive rights free agents.
2022-232024-25Rec YPG76.553.4Rank10th30thYards per route run2.731.96Rank5th34th– ESPN Research
Waddle, who is one of the fastest players in the league, will provide a big-play element to the Broncos’ offense that has finished near the bottom of the league in each of the past two seasons in three-and-out drives. The Broncos were 29th this past season as 25% of their possessions on offense were three-and-outs.
Waddle’s 64 catches, 910 yards and six touchdowns this past season would have been third, second and second for the Broncos.
“I think I just bring another playmaker to the team,” Waddle said. “Someone that can help out.”
The Dolphins selected Waddle with the sixth pick in the 2021 draft, and he set an NFL rookie record for receptions with 104. Miami traded for Tyreek Hill the following offseason, but Waddle thrived under first-year coach Mike McDaniel.
He finished the 2022 season with a career-high 1,356 yards and eight touchdowns and followed it up with 1,014 yards and four touchdowns in 2023. He signed a three-year, $84.75 million extension before the 2024 season.
Since entering the league, Waddle has the 10th-most receiving yards in the NFL among wide receivers (5,039) and 11th-most yards after the catch. Waddle was eighth in yards per target (9.2) this past season. He has 26 career touchdown receptions, and he has also rushed for a score.
Waddle, 27, is due $41.2 million over the next two seasons. The Broncos will take on a $5 million salary cap hit for 2026 but are on the hook to pay the remainder of Waddle’s contract, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Miami already had paid much of his 2026 guarantee, but Denver can always rework his deal, which goes through 2028.
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While both Broncos coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton had repeatedly said since the end of last season that they liked the makeup of the depth chart at wide receiver — the Broncos have used four selections over the past three drafts on wide receivers — Courtland Sutton was the only Broncos receiver among the league’s top 48 players in receptions of at least 20 yards. Sutton was tied for ninth with 17, but the next Broncos player was Troy Franklin, tied for 49th, with nine.
It is the second major move of the offseason for the Broncos on offense. Payton announced at the NFL combine last month that he had handed playcalling duties to newly promoted offensive coordinator Davis Webb. With backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham in the lineup for an injured Bo Nix, the Broncos gained just 32 yards in the second half of the loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, had only one first down after halftime and didn’t have a possession in the third or fourth quarters longer than 17 yards.
After the loss, Payton was asked what he would be most critical of in the aftermath, and he said he would start with himself. Payton said at the combine he had first considered the idea to hand over playcalling duties about “midseason” and that the end-of-season review played a part as well, including the potential to pick up the pace on offense.
The Broncos, who finished the 14-3 in the regular season to earn the AFC’s No. 1 seed, had one of the league’s best defenses this past season — No. 1 in sacks and in the red zone in the regular season, second on third down and third in scoring defense and best in yards surrendered per play overall (4.46).
But Payton had expressed his frustrations about the offense at various times during the season as well as the day after the playoff loss. In the regular season, the Broncos were 14th in scoring (23.6 points per game), 10th in offensive EPA and 12th in QBR.
Waddle will join a Broncos receiving corps that includes Sutton, Pat Bryant, Franklin, Marvin Mims Jr., Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Michael Bandy.
“I look at it as a new opportunity to go out there with a new team in a great place and play along great talent and try to help out best I can,” Waddle said. “… It’s exciting.”
Miami Dolphins Dead Money for this season is now over $175 million.
🏈Tua Tagovailoa: $50M+🏈Tyreek Hill: $28.2M🏈Jaylen Waddle: $26.3M🏈Jalen Ramsey: $20.9M🏈Minkah Fitzpatrick: $13M🏈Bradley Chubb: $10.9M🏈Terron Armstead: $10.7M🏈James Daniels: $4.8M🏈Zach Wilson:… pic.twitter.com/fqGCmvgtAQ
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 17, 2026
The Dolphins, at Nos. 11 and 30, are now one of five teams that have two picks in the first round of this year’s draft, joining the New York Jets (Nos. 2, 16), Cleveland Browns (6, 24), Kansas City Chiefs (9, 29) and Dallas Cowboys (12, 20). Overall, Miami currently has 11 selections in next month’s draft.
Tutu Atwell is atop the Dolphins’ depth chart at the position, and is joined in the receivers room by Jalen Tolbert, Terrace Marshall Jr., Malik Washington, Tahj Washington, Theo Wease Jr. and AJ Henning.
