From Alabama to Denver, Waddle and Surtain reunite with training camp battles looming

"Just seeing it happen, it’s special.”

Waddle and Surtain were both part of the Crimson Tide's 2018 recruiting class and played three seasons together in Tuscaloosa, winning a national championship in 2020 before leaving for the NFL. Waddle was drafted sixth overall by the Dolphins in the 2021 NFL draft, three spots ahead of where the Broncos selected Surtain, who has lived up to his promise as one of the league's premier cornerbacks.

The Broncos, who remain the only team not to sign an outside free agent this offseason, acquired one of the league's fastest and best wide receivers in a blockbuster trade that sent three draft picks to the Dolphins, including the 30th-overall selection next month.

Waddle said Surtain didn't give him any new intel on the Broncos and coach Sean Payton in their conversations since the trade.

“Not too many details. (But) we kept in contact through the years when Coach Payton has been here,” Waddle said. "He’s been keeping me in the loop without even knowing.”

Waddle is a bona fide No. 1 wide receiver but he declined to speak of his skills in that manner.

“I don’t think there are No. 1s," he said. “Everyone is here to make plays and try to win. That’s ultimately the goal for the team and for the organization."

Waddle gives rising young quarterback Bo Nix another playmaker along with Courtland Sutton, boosting a passing offense that finished 11th in the NFL last season.

And Waddle’s arrival gives the Broncos a legitimate top wide receiving duo for the first time since Emmanuel Sanders signed as a free agent in 2014 and teamed with the late Demaryius Thomas to help propel Denver to a Super Bowl championship a decade ago.

The Broncos were the AFC’s No. 1 seed last season but lost to New England in the snowy AFC championship game without Nix, who broke his ankle in a game against Buffalo in the divisional round.

Waddle appears to be a good locker room fit for a franchise that is notable for its lack of prima donnas and troublemakers. Payton, general manager George Paton and team owner Greg Penner have all spoken at length about the team's philosophy of not having distracting players on the roster.

Asked for his personal and team goals for 2026, Waddle said, "I wouldn't say nothing personal. I would say for the team, just take it week-by-week. Just try to go out there and play a good brand of football and try to stack some wins together.”

Waddle is the antithesis of the diva wide receiver, saving his trash talk for the field but maintaining humility in public.

“I honestly think it was just the way I was brought up," he said. “My mom and dad obviously tried to do a good job as best they could with keeping me not too high, but not too low. So just staying at a good head space.”

Waddle comes in as the headliner in a wide receiver room that features Sutton, Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and Lil'Jordan Humphrey but he insisted, “I'm excited to learn from them and for them to learn from me. It should be fun.”

Waddle, 27, had three straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons to begin his NFL career but hasn’t reached that total since 2023.

“I don’t look at it as that standpoint of getting back to where I was,” Waddle said. "I just look at it as a new opportunity to go out there with a new team in a great place, play along great talent and help out as best I can.”

One thing he will lean on Surtain for is guidance on where he can help in the community like he did in Miami, where he befriended a young cancer patient, Rocco Passaro, who was battling leukemia from 2022-23.

“I’m definitely going to get in the community and do something," Waddle said. "I know ‘PS2’ is going to help me find different things to get into. I know he does a lot of good things out here. Rocco is definitely someone that is special. We have a special a bond, and I think that’s just going to continue (no matter) where I play at. He has family in me on his side.”

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