It didn't take long for Jaylen Waddle to show off what he brings to the Denver Broncos' offense. In his Denver debut against the Green Bay Packers last Friday, Waddle hauled in a 35-yard catch that turned heads on the Broncos' opening drive. Denver scored a touchdown three plays later. “Oh, it was awesome," guard Quinn Meinerz said of Waddle's big play after the game. " ] 17 out there. Then he got all hyped ... It was good to have him out there.”
Waddle sat out the team's preseason opener while nursing a strain, but he practiced all three days last week and appears to be healthy. " It’s a good explosive play," Denver coach Sean Payton said of Waddle's 35-yard catch-and-run. " It’s good for him because he’s back to 100%. We got him a certain pitch count. He’s infectious when he plays.”
twitter.com/EoyK7EviJv — Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) August 22, 2026 "[W]hen a player comes off of some type of injury, it’s not like, all right, he’s right back into it," Payton said. " So I think we felt a dozen plays, 10 plays. I don’t know what his final total was, but it was going to be probably north of six or seven, south of 15, somewhere in there. [I was] glad he was able to get a touch and be involved. So that part of it went according to plan.”
Waddle ended up playing six plays, and he received a warm welcome at Empower Field at Mile High. “It was amazing," Waddle said. " I think for a preseason game we had a good turnout. Obviously, [the] game didn’t go as we wanted, but [it was] a chance to learn and [we] get another shot of it next week.” Denver's starters left Friday's game up 10-7, but the Broncos went on to lose 33-13. Up next, the Broncos will host the Minnesota Vikings in their preseason finale on Aug_ABBR. 28.
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