Jaylen Waddle didn’t just help the Broncos beat the Chiefs on Sunday. He also gave Denver a glimpse of what Sean Payton wants this offense to become.
Waddle’s first official “Penguin” celebration came after a touchdown in the 28-24 comeback win, and Payton made it clear Monday that he sees more of that kind of usage coming. The Broncos coach said the receiver’s role should keep growing as Denver heads into the stretch run.
“Absolutely, let’s keep going," Payton said via conference call with reporters. "It’s something that’s going to be important for us.
He’s dynamic, he’s quick. Each week as we gameplan, it was a little bit more challenging last week because Wednesday he didn’t go and there’s that uncertainty.
We’re going to need his plays down the stretch.”
Waddle came into the game listed as questionable because of a chest injury he re-aggravated the week before, but he looked fine once the ball was kicked off. He caught three passes on a team-high six targets for 39 yards and a touchdown, then broke out the celebration afterward.
He was also used in a more prominent way over the middle of the field, including a 35-yard catch from Bo Nix. Nix finished 20-of-32 for 222 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, and the win was his NFL-leading 15th game-winning drive since 2024.
“It means a lot," Nix said in his postgame press conference. "That’s a big divisional win for us, obviously-one of our toughest opponents in the division, one of our rivals.
They played us really well again, and we just responded this time. That’s just a good football team, and they’re going to give us their best every time, and so we just have to respond well.”
The target volume has been there for Waddle plenty this season. Sunday marked the seventh time he has seen at least five targets in a game. But the yardage hasn’t consistently followed: it was also the seventh time he finished with fewer than 50 receiving yards.
The one exception came in Week 2, when he exploded for 138 yards on 10 catches against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
That’s the kind of impact Denver needs more often if its passing game is going to keep climbing, especially with January in mind. The Broncos gave up a first-round pick to get Waddle, and the next step is making sure the ball keeps finding him.
Denver gets one more game before its Week 10 bye, and it comes against a Carolina Panthers defense that just fired its defensive coordinator. If there’s a week for Waddle to match what he did against Jacksonville, this is it.
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