ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- After a failed third-down conversion Sunday in a game filled with failed third-down plays, Denver Broncos wide receiver Jaylen Waddle stormed into the bench area, ripped his helmet from his head as if it were in flames and slammed its crown into the bench.
It summed up a frustrating day for the receiver, who finished with two receptions for 19 yards in a 23-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. It marked the third time in five games in which he finished with fewer than 20 receiving yards, and the fourth in which he gained 35 or fewer.
Waddle was by far the Broncos' most significant acquisition in an offseason in which they chose to mostly run it back with a roster that got them to the AFC Championship Game last season. Denver sent first- and third-round picks to the Miami Dolphins to acquire him in March in addition to a fourth-round pick swap. But Waddle, who had 910 receiving yards and six TDs last season, has been rendered ornamental much of the time in an offense that coach Sean Payton said has a long list of problems. And as the 3-2 Broncos get set to host the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks (3-2) on Thursday (8:15 p.m. ET, Empower Field at Mile High, Prime Video), they're trying to figure out how to unleash Waddle.
"I'm watching the film offensively and there are a ton of things we're not doing well right now," Payton said Monday. "So, that has to improve."
Payton was giddy about Waddle's arrival this spring, calling the speed, acceleration, toughness and locker room demeanor of the receiver a "10, 10, 10, 10, 10." Throughout training camp, Waddle flashed his ability to turn any reception into a field-flipping play as a potent vertical threat.
"[That] makes him so tough to play tight," said Broncos All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II, who played with Waddle in college at Alabama. "He can just run by you, or his routes are so clean if you play off, he's going to catch it and turn it into something big."
But the Broncos' offense has been mired in an across-the-board struggle that has eaten into Waddle's production. While Waddle has 18 receptions for 204 receiving yards and a touchdown, much of that came in a Week 2 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in which he caught eight passes for 138 receiving yards. His output has been meager otherwise -- a combined 10 receptions for 66 yards in the other four games. Waddle has been targeted an average of 6.2 times per game, a lower rate than he had in four of his five seasons with the Dolphins. That average falls to 5.3 when the Jaguars game is removed.
But there might not be a redder flag in Waddle's lagging production than comparing it to that of backup running back RJ Harvey. Harvey, who has played only 42% of the team's offensive snaps this season and missed one game because of injury, leads the Broncos with 20 receptions.
Waddle doesn't absolve himself of any of it. After a drop in a Week 4 loss to the San Francisco 49ers -- one of three he has had this season to equal his total from 2025 -- he said the play was just the kind of catch-and-run situation he usually flourishes in.
"We're in prime position to score points and they call a play and I didn't execute," Waddle said. "... We've just got to make plays on a more consistent basis, that's what it comes down to. ... That's me, too, find a way anytime I get the opportunity to put us in a position for points."
Waddle's slow start is part of a bigger malaise for Denver's offense. The Broncos are 31st in the league in plays of 20 or more yards (with 11). Waddle is 65th in the league at 11.3 yards per catch and 69th in receiving yards per route run at 1.63, far below his 2.27 yards per route run last season with the Dolphins or the 2.69 yards per route run in 2022. It's those types of figures that pushed Payton to retake playcalling duties from offensive coordinator Davis Webb after four games.
But Waddle hasn't been the locksmith that he or the Broncos hoped. They envisioned him giving the other Broncos receivers, especially Courtland Sutton, more room to work while providing quarterback Bo Nix with an explosive-play option both vertically and in catch-and-run situations. That hasn't materialized, as Sutton has 11 receptions for 104 receiving yards, his fewest through five games of any full season in his nine-year career.
"You're like all right, we have to find more touches for ... X amount of receivers, even when [defenses] are in these deeper zones," Payton said. "We'll be able to do that, but we start with a mirror right away with ourselves."
Nix has traced much of the passing game being stuck in neutral to the Broncos' inability to "stay out of third down," a drumbeat offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey summed up after the 49ers loss as "2-yard run, 2-yard run, dropback."
Waddle might also be disproportionately suffering from what one AFC personnel executive called "a sped-up clock" in Nix's play in which the quarterback "seems to be in a hurry on every play." It's an issue Nix and Payton have acknowledged in recent weeks.
Waddle is often the primary receiver on pass plays, so if Nix has moved too fast through his progressions before a receiver is at the top of the route, Nix will have already moved to the second or third read before that receiver is prepared to pay off his pattern.
"A receiver can't throw himself the ball. Their impact is based on everything that needs to come together, route concept, timing, the quarterback's progression, footwork, all of it," a former longtime quarterbacks coach in the league said. "From what I've seen ... the drops and his footwork just seem off, so [Nix is] moving to the hot [receiver] or the outlet so often ... and that's not Waddle."
All of this has resulted in an off-kilter offense that struggles to keep possessions going. The Broncos were 1-of-12 on third down Sunday and are 28th in frequency of drives that end in three-and-outs (a whopping 28.3% of possessions). This disjointed dynamic has also prevented them from taking advantage of something both Nix and Waddle should excel in together: crossing routes.
Nix's highest QBR this season has come on crossing routes (96.6, much higher than his overall 41.5 QBR), yet Waddle has just two receptions on crosses, averaging 2.6 yards per crossing route run. Waddle has thrived on these routes in the past, averaging 3.0 yards per crossing route run last season and a stellar 4.5 in 2022. But when a team plays as many two-deep looks as the 49ers did in Week 4, the Broncos haven't punished those alignments enough with routes Nix and Waddle should nail.
Nix has kept the faith, though, saying "it's close" and "it'll come." Waddle agrees.
"We know we have the players in here, and the defense always gives us the ball back. It's about executing, me included, when we get the opportunities," he said.