With the trade deadline closing in, the New Orleans Saints may have opened a door for the Denver Broncos at running back.
The Saints cut 2023 third-round pick Kendre Miller, and that kind of move in the middle of the season always gets attention. It’s not a ringing endorsement of where things stood in New Orleans, especially for a player who has dealt with injury and inconsistency. But it also leaves Denver with a possible low-risk swing on a back who still has traits worth betting on.
Miller is subject to waivers, so the Broncos would need him to slip past the teams ahead of them in the waiver order. There’s also the possibility the Saints are putting this out there to see whether a club will jump in with a last-second trade.
At 6-foot and 220 pounds, Miller has the size and speed profile that can tempt a team looking for upside. The problem is that it hasn’t shown up often enough in the NFL. His longest run in a single carry is 18 yards, and the best season average he’s posted is 4.1 yards per carry.
This year, with Travis Etienne dealing with an injury, Miller has seen the most action of his career. He has 66 total touches in 2026, but only 196 yards from scrimmage to show for it. He’s scored twice and coughed it up twice.
For Saints fans, the wait for Miller to put it together and stay healthy may feel familiar in a way Broncos fans know well from the Greg Dulcich experience. Miller just turned 24 in June, so there’s still time for his NFL story to change. A new setting and a fresh chance could matter.
Denver also has a little connective tissue here. Miller was drafted by the Saints in 2023, back when current Broncos vice president of player personnel Cody Rager was still in New Orleans. Rager was the Saints’ assistant college scouting director when Miller went in the third round, so he could have some useful input on whether the Broncos should take the shot.
The need in Denver is real. The Broncos’ running back room has been hit hard in 2026, and the depth has been stretched thin.
JK Dobbins hasn’t looked anything like the player who was among the top five backs in nearly every major category during the 2025 season. He hasn’t been generating yards after contact, he hasn’t provided much in the passing game, and his snaps have dropped sharply in the last two games since Jonah Coleman returned.
Coleman missed four weeks on IR with an ankle injury, but when healthy he’s looked like a possible RB1 for the team.
RJ Harvey is also on IR after suffering a knee injury in practice, and the earliest he can return is December 6, though that date isn’t guaranteed.
Tyler Badie has spent time on IR as well.
With the room thinned out this much, Denver may need to do something before the deadline. A move for Miller would fit the profile of a gamble worth considering.
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That depth showed up again in a key moment against the Chiefs, where Denvers defense held firm in a goal line stand that helped preserve the games balance. Kris Abrams-Draine and Devon Key have also been part of the recent push, giving the Broncos more than just survival snaps from their backups and reinforcing the idea that this unit can keep functioning even when the injury list keeps growing. [Read more 🡒]