Sean Keeler: The Broncos won NFL draft's first round by landing Jaylen Waddle. Sorry, Raiders, Chiefs and Chargers.

Sean Keeler, The Denver Post on Apr 26, 2026

Published in Football

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DENVER — The Denver Broncos will go farther with a Waddle than they ever would by hangin’ with Mr. Cooper.

The first-round pick that belonged to the Broncos in February — No. 30, the third-from-last in the pecking order this past Thursday night — wound up going through three teams’ hands before it turned into a good-hands guy in former Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper. Jr.

The Broncos traded the pick to Miami last month for veteran Dolphins wideout Jaylen Waddle. Miami then swapped it to San Francisco to move up in the draft, and the 49ers shipped it to the New York Jets to move down.

To the wanna-be draftniks up in the Grading The Week offices, Cooper Jr. is obviously the big loser here — largely because he seems like a good kid, and nobody, especially good kids, deserve Jet Life if they can help it. Alas. With Hoosiers teammate Fernando Mendoza officially joining the glittery dumpster fire that is the Las Vegas Raiders, you’d imagine the two will have a lot to text about, back and forth, these next few years. Godspeed, dudes.

But speaking of speed, there’s been at least one very clear winner in the No. 30 sweepstakes so far — and that’s the Broncos.

Waddle as Broncos’ “first-round pick” — A-

Why? For one thing, precedent says that Waddle’s production this fall should, health permitting (knocks on wood), just about double whatever numbers Cooper puts out as a rookie for the J-E-T-S in 2026.

We’ve got a few amateur Mel Kipers on Team GTW, and crunched some numbers that had to have played at least some role in GM George Paton’s decision to act against his history by giving up a cost-controlled, young first-round draft pick in favor of a veteran instead.

Since his rookie season of 2021, Waddle, a home-run hitter out of the University of Alabama and longtime pal of Broncos icon Pat Surtain II, has averaged a stat line of 75 catches, 1,008 receiving yards and five touchdown catches per year. Three of those five years saw him nab 70 or more receptions. In four of those five, he racked up at least 900 yards receiving.

Comparatively and historically speaking, that’s a heck of a lot better bang for the buck than what a very-late-in-the-first-round wide receiver gives you during his rookie campaign.

From 2021-2025, the span of Waddle’s career so far, eight wideouts have been drafted from picks 25-35 in the NFL draft. All contributed as first-year players, but some better than most. The Los Angeles Chargers’ Ladd McConkey put up a Pro-Bowl caliber campaign in ’24 as a first-year target (82 catches, 1,149 receiving yards, seven scores), while Rashod Bateman’s numbers as a rookie in ’22 were merely serviceable (46 grabs, 515 yards, one TD).

Of those eight receivers taken in the 25-35 range, their average rookie stat line read like this: 48 catches, 611 receiving yards, 4.8 TDs. So, basically, an average Troy Franklin year for first-round money.

Paton and coach Sean Payton wanted to do better — especially given the Broncos’ title window, the low cost of Bo Nix’s rookie contract, and the number of veteran deals set to expire after the 2027 season.

Cooper Jr. would have looked great in orange and blue. But he also might have taken time to develop into the kind of sure thing that Waddle’s already become. Waddle is plug, play and get out of the way. He should also prove to be a better “first-round” addition for the ’26 and ’27 windows than anything the Raiders, Chiefs and Chargers snapped up on Thursday night.

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