![\"Courtland](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2255113988-e1775149291506.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton. <\/p>\n
Denver Broncos<\/a> general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton have made a point of saying they won\u2019t trade any of the talented wide receivers currently on their roster.<\/p>\n \u201cNo (we won\u2019t trade wide receivers), we really like those pieces, and they\u2019re all going to help us,\u201d Paton told DNVR\u2019s Zac Stevens<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019ve all helped us until now.\u201d<\/p>\n While it\u2019s great lip service and might make the current group of wide receivers sleep well at night during the offseason, it\u2019s a foolish thing for Paton to come out and say any group of players on offense isn\u2019t going to be traded.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s 3 reasons why none of us should believe Paton when he says the remaining wide receivers are off-limits in a trade.<\/p>\n Reason No. 1: Another Blockbuster Deal Could Land<\/p>\n The Broncos probably cost themselves a spot in the Super Bowl last season by not making a move for Miami Dolphins<\/a> wide receiver Jaylen Waddle<\/a> at the NFL trade deadline because the price was too high \u2014 a price they were willing to pay last month by sending the Dolphins a 1st round pick and 3rd round<\/a> pick for Waddle.<\/p>\n Making a move for Waddle shows the Broncos are open for business. Getting another star via a trade would be smart, and we can almost certainly rule out using any more 1st round draft picks to get elite players on the roster.<\/p>\n That means, if there were to be a deal in the future, it would need to include an asset already on the roster. Which means wide receivers, because the Broncos have too many of those.<\/p>\n Reason No. 2: Waddle Clear-Cut WR1 for Broncos<\/p>\n Another person we shouldn\u2019t believe is Payton, who says that Waddle isn\u2019t the clear-cut WR1 for the Broncos.<\/p>\n \u201cSean Payton made it clear the Broncos don\u2019t have a WR1 and WR2,\u201d Stevens wrote<\/a> at the annual NFL<\/a> owners meetings this week in Phoenix.\u00a0<\/p>\n If we use common sense, Waddle\u2019s skill level makes him the WR1 for the Broncos. He was a WR2 in the past on the Dolphins, but that was only because the NFL\u2019s best wide receiver at the time, Tyreek Hill,<\/a> was in front of him.<\/p>\n There\u2019s an obvious skill gap between Waddle and the Broncos\u2019 WR1 for almost the last decade in Courtland Sutton<\/a>, who has consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and could even have a 3rd consecutive 1,000-yard season in 2026 \u2014 he would just need to do it with Waddle being the main target.<\/p>\n That also means everybody except for Waddle is trade bait.<\/p>\n Reason No. 3: Too Much Talent, Not Enough Snaps<\/p>\n After Waddle, the Broncos have 4 wide receivers who could have trade value with Sutton, Marvin Mims<\/a>, Troy Franklin,<\/a> and Lil\u2019Jordan Humphrey<\/a> \u2014 2nd-year wide receiver Pat Bryant<\/a> might also be trade bait to a team that\u2019s desperate enough.<\/p>\n Humphrey could almost certainly be a plug-and-play WR3 for a team in need and get back a 6th-round pick.<\/p>\n Mims, a 2-time NFL All-Pro return specialist, has shown he could be a dynamic wide receiver. Franklin made a major leap<\/a> from his rookie year to 2025, and it\u2019s not hard to see him garnering a 3rd or 4th round pick in return \u2014 both Mims and Franklin are clear-cut WR2 candidates for the majority of the teams in the NFL.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Broncos\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton. Denver Broncos general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-849713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-broncos","11":"tag-denverbroncos","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116336395793190148","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}