PHOENIX — In the days after the Broncos hosted the AFC Championship Game, Owner & CEO Greg Penner described Denver's upcoming offseason approach as one that would be opportunistically aggressive.
Just over two months later, as he spoke to the media at the NFL Annual Meeting on Monday, Penner said Denver's splash trade for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle fit that criteria.
"We went into this, and we were prepared to be aggressive if we thought that there was an opportunity," Penner said. "At the same time, we weren't going to be aggressive just to be aggressive."
Penner said Denver's existing roster — and the success the team enjoyed in 2025 — set a high bar for any potential addition. Waddle, with three 1,000-yard seasons in his five-year career, cleared that requirement.
"We love the guys that we have in our locker room and on our team," Penner said. "It's a strong core and a really good fit. The bar was high if we were going to go get someone in free agency that we thought could be a better addition. The opportunistic part was when we saw something to take a big swing [on], we were going to be willing to take a big swing. That is what we did with the Waddle trade."
Though the trade is officially less than two weeks old, Penner said the team's interactions with Waddle "have been terrific" and that he has already shown signs of fitting into Denver's culture.
"We think that he has all the aspects that are important to us," Penner said. "Obviously, he is a tremendous playmaker but also a great locker room guy. He has grit, professionalism and a high level of intellectual-ness around football and his performance."
Asked whether the trade for Waddle represented a significant enough step to advance further than the Broncos did in 2025, Penner said the team is always looking for further ways to improve.
"We are always looking for what more can we do," Penner said. "We are starting over and have a lot of hard work to do. We still have the draft coming up and we have training camp. We are always going to be looking at opportunities to make this team better and I don't think we'll ever say that we've done enough."
'WE WON A LOT OF GAMES WITH THESE GUYS'
The Broncos retained more than a dozen impending free agents in recent weeks, and General Manager George Paton said that was intentional after scouting both their own players and those available around the league.
"We like our players," Paton said. "That was the plan. We compare all our players to what's there in free agency, and our guys were favored and were there pretty high. We won a lot of games with these guys. They fit the culture, and not everyone does. Hard-working, good players. We're talking [Alex] Singleton and [Justin] Strnad and J.K. Dobbins — he really changed the landscape of our offense — and 'Traut' [Adam Trautman]. Those types of guys."
Paton also spoke to the slew of extensions over the last 18 months, as Denver also retained a number of players before they reached the free-agent market.
"You kind of look at just an extension of what we've done over the last year and a half," Paton said. "We had 10 extensions, and these are some of the best players in the league: [Pat] Surtain [II], [Quinn] Meinerz, [Nik] Bonitto, Zach Allen, [Malcolm] Roach, 'Court' [Courtland Sutton], [Garett] Bolles. All of these guys."
Paton also noted that if the team had followed a different plan in free agency, the team likely would have been unable to acquire Waddle.
"We filled a lot of needs with good players that we know, and yet we had flexibility to go make a trade," Paton said. "If we didn't, if we just jumped out and made a big splashy [signing], we wouldn't have been able to make the trade."
NIX ATTACKING REHAB
After suffering a season-ending ankle injury in the Broncos' Divisional Round win, quarterback Bo Nix is doing "a terrific job" in his rehab, according to Penner.
"It's really, really good," Penner said. "He's attacked his recovery in the same way that he attacks preparing for games."
Penner said there are "no concerns" moving forward and that Nix is expected to be ready for the voluntary offseason program.
"We're really pleased with his progress and the support from [Vice President of Player Health and Performance] Beau Lowery and everyone," Penner said.
A NEW PLAY-CALLER
Head Coach Sean Payton announced at the NFL Combine in February that Offensive Coordinator Davis Webb would assume play-calling duties in 2026, and Penner said Monday that Payton's decision was made to put the Broncos in the best possible position to succeed.
"I think that Sean always wants to do what's in the best interest of this team and the Broncos' organization," Penner said. "He and I obviously talked about it, but this was entirely, 100 percent his decision. We have a lot of confidence in Davis, and I think Sean is going to be very supportive of him."
