Denver is playing the long game this spring. They will get compensatory picks for John Franklin-Myers and PJ Locke and don’t want to lose them by signing top dollar free agents. That fits well with GM George Paton’s draft theory of "more darts". And gives him ammunition to move up for a player which is HC Sean Payton’s approach. And, the Broncos roster is dotted with recent first- and second-team All-Pros. They will start their quest for the Super Bowl with this talented roster

Entering the second wave of free agency, Denver is the only team who hasn’t signed an outside free agent. Instead, they have resigned their own free agents and restructured player contracts to be able to cash in on value free agents and/or make a trade to improve the team.

Denver still has enough darts for Payton and Paton to use to methodically work the draft and strengthen the Broncos roster. While things could change before the draft, presently, the Broncos seem focused on getting a TE, RB, and ILB, which they can do with their remaining round two and round four picks. But then there is the "smoke and mirrors" that Payton employs to hide his intentions. Payton may be looking for a "Joker" type quarterback to add spice to the QB2 competition. DC Vance Joseph has his defensive "joker" in OLG Jonah Elliss. The Waddle lessens the need at wide receiver. RB and TE remain a need, but what Payton wants at tailback may have changed with the addition of Waddle. He is also always looking for a tight end joker. At this point, everything is wide open. Denver will have no night one pick and only one day two-pick after the Waddle trade. They could not have gotten as good or as proven a player as Waddle at pick #30. They have enough picks to move around during the draft, and the late round three and early four are a strength of this draft. It will be difficult for draft picks to stick on a loaded Broncos roster.

2nd-round - 62nd overall pick (own)

• 4th-round - 108th overall pick (via Saints - Devaughn Vele trade)
• 4th-round - 111th overall pick (via Dolphins - Jaylen Waddle trade)
• 5th round - 170th overall pick (own)
• 7th round - 246th overall pick (own)
• 7th round - 256th overall pick (compensatory pick)
• 7th round - 257th overall pick (compensatory pick)

Signed RB Jaleel McLaughlin. Signed WR Michael Bandy.

Signed S Tycen Anderson 6’2, 240. Anderson will be a core special teams player and a veteran backup safety.

Denver traded Pick 30 (essentially a 2nd round pick) and 94 (essentially a fourth rounder) and swapped their late 4th round pick to move up for Miami’s 4th round picked and WR Jalen Waddle. Waddle is the game changing wide receiver that Denver needed. Waddle has speed, is a vertical threat and very good in quarterback scramble situations. He can line up inside, outside, can win down the field, and can also win near the line of scrimmage and rack up a ton of yards after the catch. QB Bo Nix now has two excellent targets who know how to get open on the scramble drill in Waddle and Courtland Sutton. WRs Marvin Mims and Troy Franklin will compete for WR3. But WR Pat Bryant is the sleeper who could step into the wide receiver #3 role. Waddle will also open up the field for RBs JK Dobbins and JR Harvey both in the pass game as well as reducing the number of stacked boxes they will face. Waddle is life long friends with CB Pat Sartain.

Orangeman’s Take

Denver is in win-now mode and spent big money to get help for Bo Nix, by running back their Super Bowl ready roster and trading for WR Jalen Waddle. Denver's roster was a championship-caliber group heading into free agency. They only lost one key role player (JFM), and have now added the missing piece to their offense. In the process they got out from under the Russell Wilson cap hit to become the team with the second-least amount of dead money in the NFL. They are not done making roster moves and it will be the end of June before with have an idea of what the 2027 Broncos will look like…

End.