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Jaylen Waddle can’t throw the ball to himself.
It’s kind of been the worst “best” week for the Broncos that anybody on the Grading The Week (GTW) crew can remember.
After all, the orange and blue went 2-0 over the last seven days to extend Denver’s lead atop the AFC West with an 8-2 record. The Broncos set up a showdown with the Chiefs (5-4) at Empower Field on Nov. 16 that could officially end the Mahomes-Reid stranglehold on the division.
It’s how they got there. A victory over the Texans (18-15) was due to a brilliant defense and a very timely injury to Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud. A win over the Raiders (10-7) on Thursday night was an exercise in sheer agony. Brilliant defense again, but mostly agony.
In between the games, Sean Payton was grouchier than usual. And on Tuesday, despite being on track for a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs, the Broncos elected to stand pat as the trade deadline came and went. Marcedes Lewis, the 41-year-old “blocking” tight end, was Broncos Country’s midseason acquisition of note. Everybody dance!
Broncos at the NFL trade deadline — D
Payton insisted midweek that he had everything he needed inside Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit. Against Vegas, his offense showed him otherwise.
Several reports over the last few weeks had the Broncos sniffing around at offensive additions, primarily at wide receiver. Denver was allegedly a suitor for New Orleans wideout Rashid Shaheed, only to be pipped by the Seahawks.
NFL reporter Jordan Schultz then claimed the Broncos reached out to the Dolphins to inquire about Shaheed clone Jaylen Waddle, only to find the reported asking price — a first-round draft pick, at the least — to be too steep.
Considering the Colts (7-2) coughed up two first-round picks to free star cornerback Sauce Gardner from the Jets, it puzzled the kids in the GTW offices why the Broncos wouldn’t consider a corresponding move in kind. Nix will only be on a rookie contract for so long, and the Broncos’ cap situation improves significantly in 2026.
Waddle would be an upgrade over Troy Franklin. But we’re not sure he’d be a significant improvement over Marvin Mims Jr., assuming the latter is good to go. And it would be a waste of a first-rounder to land a guy that Sean Payton would likely just be asking to block on screens anyway.
DePodesta is a Rockie! — C
The GTW gang is torn on this one. We’re mildly and pleasantly surprised that Rockies CEO Dick Monfort hired a director of baseball operations from a) outside the organization; and b) outside his genetic family tree. Baby steps, after all, are still steps.
That said, Paul DePodesta coming to Colorado is, if not straight outta left field, at least from the gap in left-center.
DePodesta was at the forefront of the analytics movement in baseball, although that forefront was multiple decades ago – the “Peter Brand” character in the movie “Moneyball” was based on DePodesta and his work with Billy Beane.
Not Peter Brand also hasn’t worked for a baseball club in 10 years. During that aforementioned decade, he was pulling strings behind the scenes with the Cleveland Browns, who might be the NFL’s equivalent of the Rockies in terms of dysfunction. With the Browns, he was part of the trade that brought Deshaun Watson to Cleveland for six draft picks — six! — and then agreed to ink Watson to a five-year, $230-million deal. Which panned out for the Browns even worse than that trade-and-sign with Russell Wilson worked for the Broncos.
We’ll try to keep an open mind, here, although we can’t shake the feeling that Monfort thought he was actually hiring actor Jonah Hill, who played Brand in “Moneyball.” Although if Paul can somehow get Kris Bryant off the books, he’ll already be a 70% improvement over Bill Schmidt.
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Sean Keeler
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