Broncos coach Sean Payton won’t get to see wide receiver Jaylen Waddle in action on the field until June, when the team hits the field for organized team activities for the first time.
But he’s excited about the possibilities of his newest acquisition, picked up this week in a deal that saw the Broncos part ways with their first- and third-round choices while swapping fourth-round picks with the Miami Dolphins in exchange for the sixth-year receiver.
Waddle brings a dynamic element that Denver’s pass-catching corps has lacked. But it was more than just the explosiveness, speed and quickness that attracted Payton, as he told Kay Adams on Friday in a short video posted on her Instagram account.
“There’s a grit to him,” Payton said. “Guys like Teddy Bridgewater, Nick Saban, I mean, a ton of people talk about his high, high, [competitiveness].”
It should come as no surprise that Payton referenced a characteristic not directly tied to Waddle’s athleticism, given how much Payton prizes intangible elements in his team-building process.
Waddle played under Saban at Alabama before the Dolphins drafted him in 2021. Bridgewater was a backup quarterback in Miami in 2022, but also spent two seasons as Payton’s understudy quarterback with the New Orleans Saints in 2018 and 2019.
Payton will talk at length on the record in a week and a half at the NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix at the AFC Coaches Breakfast, scheduled for March 31. This weekend, he’s coaching a team in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic, taking place Saturday in Los Angeles.