Broncos Trade for Jaylen Waddle!

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Speaker 1: It's a tough sports not for everybody.

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Speaker 2: You gotta be a little sick to love this game, and we got some sickos.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to NFL Daily, where Sean Payton has come up with the best way possible to get back on bow Nix's good side. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here in my garage. I'm doing a little breaking news. Olli Connelly is joining me, and Ollie told me I woke him up from a nap to let them know that the Denver Broncos have traded for Jalen Wattall. They're doing the thing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, forget Huberman to get any of the bro signs people. The thing that wakes up from a nap the quickest is Sean Payton dropping the manhood on the table and saying we're going for this.

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Speaker 3: Yes, you were hearing, and by you, I mean me and maybe the football watching populace that the Broncos were working on something. There was a couple of the local reporters. I thought it was maybe a J. Brown. Then I heard a key to leave on just Monday, being like, just watch they're gonna do something. It's like, how does it keep to leeb already know that this trade is gonna happen, and they do it. They get Jalen Waddle from the Dolphins, who I believe was not necessarily on the table, but he very much was. Because I think it's a fair deal. You can tell me what you think in terms of the compensation. The Dolphins get the Broncos' first round pick, so that's that's what the third to last pick of the first round, and a third round pick for Jalen Wattle. They also swap forth so the Dolphins actually or the Broncos rather move up a little bit in the fourth round. It's not that important there, but they get a receiver in his prime who's been pretty durable despite the idea that he's always playing through injuries. What do you think first of the compensation before we get to the Broncos fit of it all.

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Speaker 2: I think it's probably a slight overpay, given well, when he's in his career. I know you said he's in his prime, but you got to think of the opportunity cost of that first round pick and how that extends over five seasons.

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Speaker 1: I think if you look at.

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Speaker 2: Just the Broncos roster in general, it's really hard to find any kind of obvious hole, you kind of have to hit out of the park to even improve some of the areas of the roster. And so if you're looking at where they were picking the draft, the receivers that could be available, which I think is what they're looking for as one of these movable offensive pieces, maybe play a lot on the backfield, do creative things with you're looking at, could you get into the Casey conceptsi own stakes late in the first round. Probably not, probably goes a little earlier. So just looking at how the draft board's gonna lie and what they could actually use, like juice the level of a position, I think chasing a vectra made a ton of sense.

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Speaker 1: Just maybe the additional add ons.

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Speaker 2: There smacks a little bit to me of we so desperately wanted the guy at the trade deadline the old regime wouldn't quite you know, commit to it, and were convinced by our offer. We're going back into the offseason. We're just gonna do whatever it takes to get the deal over the line.

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Speaker 3: Okay, I hear that. And I'm not even like a huge Wattle guy. Whatever the consensus is on Wattle, I'm maybe just right at it or slightly below, but this this felt fair to me. I guess the question is, would you rather pay Romeo Dobbs a couple million dollars more than he got from the Patriots or Wandale or Rashid Shaheed if you like him more than he got in free agency and save the pick. I think. I think the bird in the hand with Wattle is worth more. It's the thirtieth pick in the first round, so everyone's gonna get caught up on first and third, but it's the third to last pick of the first round. It's the very end, right before the compics start of the third round, and you kind of know what you're getting with Jalen Wattle. And I like that he's cost controlled, I assume, and I guess I shouldn't that they're not giving him a huge extension right off the bat, because he is signed for the next two years for what about forty eight million dollars combined. So to me, that's that's a pretty good deal for a very good receiver. Maybe not a true number one, but immediately to me, the most explosive and dynamic receiver that the Broncos have, the.

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Speaker 2: Most explosive in the way Sean Payton does things anyway, you'll still kind of just slot it into a position. It doesn't kind of orient around one number one guy, one number two guy. And I think if you just think of it that way of who's number two in the progression of certain times, he's I think about as good as you can find anywhere on the market. I'm much higher on him than it sounds like you are.

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Speaker 1: I think he is a more all around.

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Speaker 2: Play than just being wheels and juice, and I think they can get really creative with him in a way that might mc daniel for all his creativity that kind of tilted around each on and some of the guys Robin that didn't necessarily Jalen Walla's skill set in terms of moving him around the formation. So Sean Payton, finally when I got one of these guys, He's been begging for one of these players, but he feels like three seasons now finally they delivered.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why I'm all for this trade for both sides. I think it makes sense for both sides. I think it's riskier from the Dolphin side, and we'll get to that. But yeah, Wado's twenty seven years old, had a conversation just on text with our friend, you know, handsome Hank nfl Uk Hank Henry Hodson, and I agreed with him, like Waddle occupies this space somewhere between a number one quote unquote and a number two receiver, Like he is dynamic. I think he's I love his movement just to get open his releases. Like he's a very very good receiver. Is he like a true top twenty receiver? Probably not if you go through the list, There's just so many good receivers in the league that he falls somewhere beneath that. So he occupies this middle territory, and I think he improves their team a lot. And I just don't know like like he That's why the compensation I'm struggling to like land on with, Like that feels about right for me, and the money feels about right for me, And it just feels like the right time to go after a player like that, because you're not gonna find that guy in the draft. I mean, maybe you could, but the odds are even with their number eleven overall pick, I believe they have the odds are you're not gonna find someone as good as Jalen Waddle. He was a top ten pick who I think has lived up to his billing. I don't think he's been way better than you would expect or way worse. He's he's what you want. But if you look at the average guys who are taken in the top ten, like he's pretty much right there. The problem is I always compare him to DeVante Smith and I just love Davanta Smith, and they got kind of compared as in between one and two, And to me, no, DeVante Smith is just a superior player, but Wattle is still very, very good, and it's just that you know what you're getting. Like we've seen the concept at the NFL level.

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Speaker 2: I think they're a little close than you're giving credit for. I think Waddle has a chance to be special in a new environment. I think the offensive line t's play behind the offensive architecture of the ball has to be out in two seconds flat hasn't always played into some of the down the field skill set stuff you're talking about, and I agree with you on those. A one superstars have this kind of gravity that tilts the defense in a way where everyone else can feast. And then even when they're doubled up they just more people those like the best guys, AJ Brown, Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase. He's not in that bracket. But that's just not what Sean Payton does anyway. He lines guys up where they're gonna line.

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Speaker 1: Up no matter what.

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Speaker 2: And so it's just if he is playing inside a whole bunch and it's all these deep, break to grass style of routes, which it's going to be.

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Speaker 1: I just think he's going to be opened the entire time.

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Speaker 2: There's gonna be better pass protection, He's going to have more opportunities to make plays in the ball down the field. They'll be able to do all the kind of the whirr and cool creative stuff behind the backfield.

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Speaker 1: So I think the production is going to be probably off the scale.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, his his yards per catch led the league in twenty twenty two. You mentioned, you know, receivers with gravity. Certainly Tyreek Hill was one of those for him, and that was his biggest season just box score wise, gets over thirteen hundred yards. But the fact that he's had a lesser total the last couple of years is more of the function of his environment. I tweeted out, like I thought this was a fair deal, and some Dolphins fans like, yeah, for the ten games that Wattle's you know, on the field this year, and I went and looked. I was like, hasn't he been extremely durable? I know he has little injuries during games and he's like on the injury report he's missed six games in five years. So I don't know. I don't know what you want with Jalen Watta. How do you think he fits in with Courtland Sutton? They kind of go into the season as co number ones. For what it's worth, I think Wattle will be a higher volume player. And I just like the receiver group much more now that Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims and Pap and Bryant are three four five because that's a fun three four five. But I just like it better that there are those three guys specifically are kind of knocked down a peg doing their roles in that Sean Payton offense.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you.

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Speaker 2: If you don't have one of the one A guys, I think you just got to get contrasting offsetting skill sets. So you got the big body guy type and col and something go make plays on the sideline for you got the splash play creator. They're in Waddle, then they've kind of got in Franklin, so more reliable and briant, someone who could maybe year three, if we have this kind of breakout, kind of high weight speed freak, will he ever tap into being a professional receiver. But now I've rely on that guy going into December and January. I think was essential for them coming out. And I'm just happy because going into the off season they were the real key team for me, and they just kind of sat and waited out and you knew they were waiting on something. I thought it could have been Chat. I thought h Cham was more available than Waddle was. But it's clear based on what they tried to do with the deadline then coming back to it, that they keeping on Waddle all the way through.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we talked about that. We gave out our grades for the Broncos and we kind of hinted at like it feels like they're going to do more so premature grade. I now like their offseason a lot more when they've basically stood pat. I think they wanted to upgrade at running back. That didn't happen for them. Who knows if they look at that position in the draft and they could upgrade a tight end two, but they still have Evan Ingram there and I guess they move forward. You kind of mentioned, okay, Devin Hch and maybe he wasn't available. I didn't think Wattle was necessarily available and they were only going to do it for the right price, which which makes sense, And maybe that could have come during the draft and it ends up coming right now. What do you think it means for this Dolphins rebuild?

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Speaker 1: I think I do.

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Speaker 2: Like when teams are self aware and those guys have gone in there and looked under the hood, watched the film of their own plays and say, this thing is not even close just kind of visually to what we want a team to look like, let alone just like the quality of the time on the roster. So I admire them just self reporting and saying we're stripping this thing down and committing to it all the way. It's a little bit puzzling to do the Willis deal and then kind of shave everything else off around it, particularly the receiver spot.

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Speaker 1: If you were able to get a good pick for h Chan.

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Speaker 2: With free agency looming, there is an exciting blurry player. Is he truly a temp pole building block for the next five six years. Probably not with Waddle. I think he could maybe.

00:10:24
Speaker 1: Have that kind of career for you.

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Speaker 2: So that part's a little bit puzzling to me that they will commit to Willis with this really smart contract that if he turns into a superstar, we've hit it out at the park. If not, we go back into the draft. Timeline is pretty clean to strip the rest of it down a little bit puzzling when they've done what dealing with Malik Willis. But I do like that they kind of have a pretty clear identity of who they are. When you look at some of the other rebuilds going on around the league and teams kind of lining themselves and convincing themselves by who they could be. The Dolphins have just kind of accepted where they're at in.

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Speaker 1: The peck and order.

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Speaker 3: Why was a tough one because he's only twenty seven years old. Now you're hoping to be in the playoffs. If if you're a new coach in GM by year three, so that's twenty twenty nine, he still would be young enough at that point at receivers certainly to be a dynamic player. And I do think it's harder ultimately to find plus plus starters like Wattle than it is to find the draft picks. But I think ultimately they got a fair price for him. And let's look at what they're they have in the draft. Now they have two first, they have the eleventh pick and the thirtieth pick. They have a second, and then here's where it really gets wild. After adding this third, they now have four of them because they got one for Jalen Phillips, they got one just in a draft day trade with the Texans last year, and now they get the Broncos pick in addition to their own. So that's a ton of draft capital. You now have so many thirds that you figured they'll probably end up swapping one of those out at some point to get a second, or package things to get another first next year or two, because they're a team that can afford to be patient, and maybe they just didn't see Wattle as their prototypical type of receiver. And John Eric Sullivan, the new GM, he's all about the draft, the draft, the draft, and I mean they are loading up in draft picks and like they're going to be able to have their vision this year and we'll see what kind of players that they want to get.

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Speaker 2: And it's interesting because every team league is desperate to get those twenty seven draft picks and try and get out of the twenty six draft picks. Why team to just say, hey, here's a one to three wig. Good, let's get the player in now. We'll be interested to see if they just decide we're going to use all those picks. We got to get a young roster. We got to be ready to compete in year three. Or if, like you said, will they bundle some together? Will they try and get themselves extra stuff early in twenty seven? Will they take that thirty fourth roll pick and try and auction it for Ty Simpson late in the first round, a team coming back into the first round, will they just dangle that thing out to try and get something better in twenty seven? Because those thirds are where the meat of the draft is. If you're looking for quality edge defenders, which is probably where he's going to be looking, that's where the real value is in the draft classes.

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Speaker 3: Having all those thirds, Yeah, I love that idea is either trading back this year or dangling it for a twenty twenty seven first where you're just betting against the team kind of like the Browns. Did you know in the last year's draft against the Jaguars it didn't work out, but it was it was just like a lottery ticket worth taking that man. They could have ended up with two high picks and the Dolphins could maybe trade a first to some team that is looking to move up, and that would make sense to me. In terms of Malik Willis, it does hurt me how high the difficulty mode is up on my guy here, because you know, number one overall free agent, I'm rooting for him. I'm glad he's going to be making the Dolphins more entertaining. I believe that'll be the case. Right now, his receivers are too. Two out well, Jalen Tolbert and Malik Washington, those are his top three. I mean, that's pretty rough. I don't know what my question is here. I don't believe the timeline though. It doesn't make me rethink the will Is signing because it was always a two year deal and I just think I QB shots are always worth taking. If there's a ten percent chance he's a franchise quarterback, it's worth taking. And if for some reason they draft Archie Manning with the first overall pick next year. It's fine having Malik Willis there with them as the back. I'm making twenty two million, like, I don't think that's a problem.

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Speaker 2: No, I don't think that's a problem for the Dolphins Formerlik Willis. It's a bit of a shame that you can't want into an environment they strip out the most favorable thing that you're walking into that environment for. I don't think it's kind of the offensive mind of the coach. I don't think it's necessarily even the offensive line, and there's some real good young talent there. I think throwing to Jalen Wall was probably one of the things that would get you over the line there. And it does force them into probably having to use one of these extra picks on a receiver.

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Speaker 1: If it's that thirtieth one.

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Speaker 2: Maybe it's more in the second round, whereas before they could have just said, let's just build through the trenches all the stuff they've signaled they want to do. So now you're kind of subbing out whether it's a second round pick that will be compared to the production and impact Waddle could have had. They've kind of made it where I think they're going to have to go early adaptition just because the backup talent isn't on the level to have a fair evaluation should have whether you hit that ten percent mark or not, you can't say we want to find out this guy could be a stood in two seasons, but we're going to rip everything up around him to not be able to have a fair evaluation in.

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Speaker 3: I think his run running is going to be a huge part of that. With a chan and how they build that, I mean, I'm sure Bobby Sloke's got this cover. That is the one little fly in this process. Oit Man is they have an offensive coordinator who basically flamed out in Houston and a defense first head coach. So we'll see. We'll see if that works out. Do you think tanking, like are they tanking? Do you think tanking exists in the NFL.

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Speaker 2: I think it does exist in the NFL. I do think teams are because of how quick the turnover is now, teams are smart to the fact that it's I don't even think it's the best.

00:15:42
Speaker 1: Path in the NFL.

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Speaker 2: I think teams are recognizing that the Dolphins of the team who did this most publicly and privately, I guess they got hammed for some of the tanking and what it meant with Brian Flores, and it yielded absolutely nothing, just as bad as they've been every the year before.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it yielded a quarterback that they're paying ninety million on the cap over the next two years. That's what it to not be on the team. That's what it yielded.

00:16:04
Speaker 1: It's just I just don't believe it's the way to do things.

00:16:07
Speaker 2: People disagree with me, I understand it's access to quarterback is the number one thing every team is looking for in the NFL, and if you get up there early in the first round, you have the cleanest shot of access to a quarterback.

00:16:16
Speaker 1: It's just not the NBA.

00:16:17
Speaker 2: Well you have a show fire thing way Victor, when Benyama comes out in the draft, you got to throw your soul away to try and get the guy.

00:16:23
Speaker 1: Just doesn't work that way.

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Speaker 2: We see teams all the time bill from the middle or sustain from picking the twenties year after year after Yet I think teams miss so often.

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Speaker 1: There's so many moving pieces.

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Speaker 2: You just want to go and find good players and hold onto them for as long as possible, then assemble as man as you can and won't.

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Speaker 3: Go, Yeah, there's so many moving pieces. Part is such a huge angle to it, because you know, I'm I got some pushback on that. I don't really think tanking is a thing. Of course, the players and the coaches who are there are trying, but also there's just so many factors and it's brought up. But what about when you know they sat Max Crosby at the end of the year, or they did. I was like, yeah, first of all, he had a horrible knee condition that needed surgery. And if that's your best example, and there have been some like sitting Derek Carr, it's like, yeah, that's the last two or three games of the season, and you're taking out one player, which is still even if it's a quarterback like Derek Carr or Russell Wilson a couple of years ago, it's reducing your chance to win that week by what five to ten percent. You probably were gonna lose anyways, you could still win the game, and you're already so deep into the season. It is not like planning your whole structure of a season around the tank like NBA teams do, or starting to sit guys like that like midway through the season. It just doesn't work that way, and I think they do know that. I think obviously the coaches are going to do it, but are they are kind of pressing pause and knowing that it's not all about this year too. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I do think the teams will the final few weeks the season make those calculations, yeah, and do it that way. I just don't think it's a good way of going about team building.

00:17:51
Speaker 1: It's more my augment.

00:17:51
Speaker 2: I think tengy is an incorrect approach to the team building. I do think someone tried to do it and throw away a couple of games to move up in the oldest it's so late yet, ye, But if you look at the teams who've done it recently, find me the great example of the team who's rebounded into being a perennial contender having thrown a season away late. And it's usually the bad teams who stay bad. They have losing cultures, they accept losing, and they stay bad. And that might be the old crotch d rah Rah coaching. Me. I think losing can be a disease, and these teams stink and they accept losing. And those seventy six's who started the whole shebang over in the NBA at peak level, developed the culture of losing and couldn't get out of it and had their style play. Just like asking out of seasons because he got used to being allowed to sit during games. I think that's a chronic problem. So if you throw.

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Speaker 1: Seasons away, I think it's a complete nightmare.

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Speaker 2: I understand the team late in the season, the final week of the season saying, let's just kind of message.

00:18:39
Speaker 1: The draft old here and move up two spots if we can. Why not, right?

00:18:42
Speaker 3: And if you look at how how the quarterbacks that the best one's been obtained lately. Anyways, that the Bears traded for a year ahead. You know that the Panthers traded up for Bryce Young. Obviously that didn't didn't work. The Commanders were not hoping to get that Jayden Daniels, pick Bell. Belichick was fighting tooth and name to not collapse, and it eventually allowed them to Drake, you know, get Drake May. So we'll see what happens with the Dolphins. I do think though, that they've made the right decisions overall, Like it all makes sense to me. So if you're a Dolphins fan out there, I get being optimistic. This is the easier part, but not every team does it. To have a clear eyed view of where your team is at and also take the pain of this year. They have one hundred and eight million dollars in dead cap this year. That's somehow second in the league. The Saints are are first, the Broncos are are No, the Browns are up there with with eighty. I was gonna say, I couldn't believe the Broncos would have been there. No, it is push time for the Broncos. They need to make a big move. I'm excited Ali, You're going to be back with us. Big week for Ali. You joined us on on Saint Patrick's Day. I don't know if you noticed, but I have a Leprechaun, which I'm you know. I don't know if this is racist or what the word is that I bought at the airport for my son on the way back from Dublin. It is in the background of our YouTube show here today.

00:20:00
Speaker 2: As a prior to Irishman, I allow you to I was gonna say, likely fly.

00:20:04
Speaker 1: Your eleproc own flag as high as you want.

00:20:08
Speaker 3: Were you sleeping off a couple early beers or something before.

00:20:12
Speaker 1: No, that's the pre gaming getting ready for what could wind up being a long night.

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Speaker 3: Oh okay, I'm feeling bad that I'm making you work, but I'm glad we could fit this one in. Ali will be back with me later this week to do our NFC free agency great, but the Broncos are doing the damn thing and they're making my guy in Elikulis's life a little harder. We will see you later in the week. Appreciate y'all.