The Broncos got a scare out of the Jaylen Waddle rumor mill after Sunday night’s 30-26 win over the Los Angeles Rams, but Wednesday brought the kind of update Denver wanted.
Waddle was on the practice field as the team prepared for its Sunday road game against the San Francisco 49ers, and he showed up on the practice report with a foot injury while still working as a full participant. That alone took a lot of heat out of the speculation that swirled after fans said they saw him leaving Empower Field at Mile High in a walking boot.
Head coach Sean Payton, who usually keeps injury talk close to the vest, didn’t sound concerned.
“He’s doing great," Payton said of Waddle. "I would just say this, and I normally don’t spend a lot of time on injuries, but you’d be amazed at how many players after a game you put a boot on them.
He practiced full today, so that’d be a good example. We have to find a way to have him not walking through the parking lot and let you guys ask me questions on Wednesday about a boot.”
(Laughs)
The bigger takeaway is simple: if Waddle had been limited, this would have felt different. Instead, he was out there as a full participant, and there’s no real reason to doubt his availability for Week 4 unless something changes.
The on-field production, though, still leaves room for more.
After going quiet in the opener, Waddle broke out in his first home appearance in Week 2, hauling in eight catches for 138 yards. Against the Rams, he was targeted seven times but finished with just two receptions for 10 yards. The Rams clearly made life difficult on him, but the quieter stat line seemed tied more to Bo Nix’s struggles to connect with him than to Waddle disappearing from the game.
For much of the first half, Nix looked out of rhythm. But when Denver needed a two-point conversion late, he went right back to Waddle, and the veteran delivered with a sharp route and a highlight-reel catch. Nix put it right on him, and Waddle came through in the biggest moment.
Bo Nix and Jaylen Waddle this is crazy pic.twitter.com/UNlpFJJFGD
Waddle also added one 14-yard carry on a jet sweep, but the overall line - 24 yards from scrimmage on three official touches, with two-point stats not showing up in the box score - was still a far cry from what Denver envisioned when it traded for him.
There’s still a lot of moving parts here. Waddle is new to the offense, and coordinator Davis Webb is only three games into his NFL play-calling career. That’s a lot of change at once, and it’s not hard to see why the connection is still being built.
The Broncos expect that chemistry with Nix will keep growing as the 2026 campaign moves along, and Webb should get more comfortable using Waddle within the scheme. The hope is that the production follows.
One milestone that would help: Waddle finding the end zone for the first time. That could come Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
For now, the foot issue sounds manageable, not alarming. Unless there’s a setback, all signs point to Waddle playing against the 49ers.
Denver also got another positive update on Wednesday with Marvin Mims Jr. practicing in full after missing the past two games with a foot injury of his own. That gives Webb and Nix a chance to get closer to a full deck.
Perhaps a better way of saying it is that Webb and Nix will be attacking with a full arsenal of weaponary.
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Rizzis push comes in the wake of earlier NFL changes to kickoff procedures, which have already altered how teams approach one of the games most specialized plays. His concern is that the current setup can give clubs an unfair advantage, and the discussion now figures to test whether enough coaches around the league see the same problem. For Denver, it is another sign that Rizzi is not just managing the third phase, but trying to influence how it is played. [Read more 🡒]