The Denver Broncos had a decent passing offense later in games but QB Bo Nix struggled in a key area. The addition of WR Jaylen Waddle should help tremendously.
The Denver Broncos needed to get better offensively after an underwhelming playoff loss to the New England Patriots, so going out and trading for Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle was a no-brainer.
Waddle became a star for the Dolphins and was the running mate to WR Tyreek Hill in a lethal passing attack, putting up three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons to begin his career before Miami’s offense declined tremendously.
Waddle will now team up with Broncos WR Courtland Sutton, who provides a much different look and route tree than that of Waddle, creating a new dynamic for quarterback Bo Nix.
Nix gets a new weapon in a passing offense that led the National Football League in attempts, and ESPN’s Ben Solak can’t wait to watch Waddle play in head coach Sean Payton’s offensive system.
Although Payton isn’t the play-caller this season, Solak reiterates that this is still his offense and new play-caller Davis Webb will shift into a more star-heavy attack using Payton’s schemes.
“With Sutton and Waddle sharing the field and bringing different skill sets, the Broncos can become a little more star-dependent with their distribution of receiver touches,” Solak wrote Tuesday. “Payton's surprising surrender of playcalling to new offensive coordinator Davis Webb is another sign that the Broncos want to narrow their receiver rotation and target shares.”
But bringing in another stud receiver wasn’t just to fortify the look on paper; it was to fix Nix’s biggest problem – throwing in zone coverage.
Nix is great when he’s throwing in man coverage, with a 46.5 percent success rate (11th in NFL), but struggles mightily when throwing into zone looks (43.7 percent, 31st in NFL).
That’s where Waddle comes in. He excels at beating zone coverages with his speed and twitchiness over the middle, traits that other Broncos receivers don’t really possess, making him the perfect offseason addition.
“Waddle gives the Broncos a far more legitimate threat to blow by a safety, which doesn't just give Nix his preferred answer against zone coverages but also stretches out those coverages, making the tight intermediate windows a little bigger for other WRs.”
Just because other receivers like Marvin Mims Jr. don’t excel in this area doesn’t mean they aren’t effective or necessary for Denver’s offense to succeed, it just gives the Broncos a totally different look – one that will drastically improve Nix’s worst area of the field.
Solak knows Payton’s mind will create so many routes and looks that will elevate the Broncos offense into one of the best in the league even if Waddle’s individual stats aren’t anything crazy on paper.
“Payton is so stupendously good at his job that it's easy to see the Waddle trade as a high-floor/high-ceiling move. At worst, he makes the existing Mims and Franklin roles more dangerous. At best, he brings such a radical dimension to the offense that it alleviates some of the coverage problems.”
Watching this new-look offense is going to be fun, and so long as health isn’t a concern like it was against the Patriots, this team could be destined for a deeper playoff run.
