We’re wrapping up a rather eventful week with the Denver Broncos, which hopefully means we can all have a nice relaxing weekend knowing the offense made a big play to get better next season. For this recap, I’ll go over the news portion and then at the bottom I’ll share my first in-person experience at a Broncos’ game. Should be fun to hear all of your stories in the comments too!
Broncos weekly recap
Nothing really happened on Friday, so we’ll just rehash the top stories from the Denver Broncos this week. And there were
finally some stories we’d consider to be top shelf…
The Denver Broncos are trading for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle
George Paton went all-in. Denver is sending its first-round pick (No. 30 overall), a third-rounder (No. 94), and a fourth-rounder (No. 130) to Miami in exchange for Jaylen Waddle and a fourth-round pick (No. 111). Waddle has posted three 1,000-yard seasons in five NFL years and gives Bo Nix the speed-and-separation threat this offense has been missing since the Emmanuel Sanders era. The Dolphins eat $23.2 million of Waddle’s cap hit this year, leaving Denver with a very manageable $4.9 million number in 2026.Jaylen Waddle statistical analysis
The numbers back up the hype. Waddle’s career averages sit around 81 catches, 1,098 receiving yards, and six touchdowns per season. His 68.6% catch rate and 13.5 yards per reception (17th among active players) paint the picture of a receiver who is both reliable and explosive — exactly what Denver lacked last year. After a modest 9.8 yards per catch as a rookie, he’s been at 12.8 or better every season since, and his yards-after-catch ability consistently ranks among the league’s best at the position.Broncos are signing safety/special teams ace Tycen Anderson
Denver’s first external free agent signing of 2026 is in the books. Tycen Anderson comes over from Cincinnati on a one-year deal after logging 83% of the Bengals’ special-teams snaps in 2025. The fifth-round pick out of Toledo appeared in every game the last two seasons but has minimal defensive snap counts, making him primarily a core special teamer who fills the void left by P.J. Locke’s departure to Dallas. He’ll compete with Devon Key and J.L. Skinner for the third safety role.
Under the radar
The Broncos were actually really good on first down yards per carry last year. However, the YPC on second down fell to 3.6 and Bo Nix’s yards per attempt fell off a cliff on second downs to 5.6. That’s definitely an issue to figure out.
The FEED happenings
Maybe not having a first round pick isn’t such a bad thing. Wyobroncoman shatred this in the Feed and noted the last three times the Broncos haven’t had a first round pick, they’ve drafted a BAMF.
Post your own thoughts on MHR’s Feed.
My first Broncos’ game story
The year was 1998 and I had just turned 20 years old living in San Diego. It was a perfect time in my life of zero responsibilities and zero ambition — both things that would haunt me down the road a few years later, but at that time life was good. My birthday was in early October, but I had not seen my Aunt and her family in a few months and stopped by in late November out in La Mesa or Lemon Grove. My memory is hazy, because I don’t remember being at her house in Lemon Grove, but I can’t think of any other place they’d be.
In any case, my Uncle Mark was visiting from out of state and within five minutes of my arrival and seeing me wearing an Elway jersey asked me if I wanted to go to the Broncos-Chargers game that day as a late birthday present. Obviously, I said yes. The game was supposed to start within an hour so we high tailed it out of there. I was beyond excited given the Broncos were like 11-0 at the time in the middle of the greatest season in franchise history.
An hour might seem like plenty of time, but it was not. Gridlock outside of Jack Murphy Stadium had me annoyed that the score was already 14-3, Denver by the time we got a parking spot. Even so, I got two more John Elway touchdown passes in before the 31-16 victory was over. I honestly don’t remember much from the game. We were about 20 rows back from the Broncos bench so I just stared at my hero’s from afar: Elway, Sharpe, Atwater, TD, Rod Smith, Eddie Mac… it was glorious.
Being a California kid, that was one of just two Broncos’ games I’ve been too. The second one was another Denver blowout, but the experience was quite unpleasant. I’ll share that story next week…
What was your first ever Broncos game in person? Share your experience in the comments section below.
