Dolphins Informed Malik Willis Of Jaylen Waddle Trade Before Deal Became Official

The Dolphins’ receiving corps does not look like it did when Malik Willis committed to Miami. The Broncos now have Jaylen Waddle in place as a Bo Nix weapon, strengthening a long-Courtland Sutton-reliant skill-position corps while depleting the Dolphins’ offense.

Miami dealt Waddle to Denver eight days after Willis committed to follow Jon-Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley to South Beach. While the new Dolphins GM could not exactly inform Willis a trade was imminent when the team gave him a three-year deal worth $67MM, the new Miami starting QB did receive advance notice shortly before Waddle was dealt.

“I’m not going to ever make it a habit to call and feel like I need to explain myself to players in the locker room for the moves that I’m going to make. That’s not how this position works,” Sullivan said, via the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. “I think they would respect me less if I did. I’m going to do what I think is right for the Miami Dolphins, not what a player or players want me to do.”

While this is not exactly Kirk Cousins not being informed the Falcons were eyeing a quarterback at No. 8 overall, Willis certainly has a different picture of the Dolphins’ receiving corps compared to when he signed. The Dolphins had released Tyreek Hill when they added Willis, but Waddle was in place as the team’s top wideout. After deploying an elite Hill-Waddle tandem for three-plus seasons, Miami now may have the NFL’s worst receiver array.

The Dolphins will surely address the position in the draft, but the rebuilding team has a few other needs that could warrant a first-round investment. The team rosters holdover Malik Washington to go with midlevel free agency additions Tutu Atwell and Jalen Tolbert. Both players enjoyed inconsistent tenures with their initial NFL clubs, while Washington (317 receiving yards, three touchdowns in Year 2) does not profile as a No. 1 target.

We heard last month Miami did not aggressively shop Waddle, and Sullivan confirmed (via the Herald’s Omar Kelly) that was the case. Kelly labeled the Broncos as “persistent” in pursuing the speedy wideout, whom Denver also looked into before last year’s deadline. The Broncos traded Nos. 30, 94 and 130 for Waddle and No. 111. This gives the Dolphins additional first- and third-round selections as they attempt to launch another rebuild.

“Whenever you’re sitting in this seat you always bite your lip when you see good players walk about the door, for whatever reason they leave,” Sullivan said. “Waddle is 27 years old. We’re in an era where the market for receivers is through the roof.”

Not much criticism has come either team’s way for this move, with the Dolphins extracting considerable value for a player who has not eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards since 2023. Waddle did begin his career 3-for-3 in 1,000-yard seasons and offers a versatile skillset the Broncos had lacked during Nix’s first two seasons. Denver is certainly betting on Waddle upside shown earlier in his career, with the ex-Patrick Surtain college teammate set to team with Sutton to form a strong receiving duo in Nix’s third (and likely final) season on a rookie contract.

The Dolphins, who went through with an aggressive rebuild in 2019, will now have two first-rounders and four thirds in this draft. The team obtained the other two by dealing Jaelan Phillips to the Eagles at the 2025 deadline and sending a fourth-round pick to Houston during the 2025 draft; the Texans traded the 2026 third to draft Woody Marks 116th overall last year. With seven picks over the first three rounds, Sullivan has plenty to work with ahead of his first draft as a GM. He also has a lot of work to do to help a roster desperate for young talent.