While Denver Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi is, by all accounts, 1 of the NFL’s very best at the very specific thing he does, it’s probably best if he doesn’t make suggestions that could sink the season before it even starts.
After hearing what Rizzi said on Thursday, maybe it’s just best if he doesn’t speak at all.
Rizzi suggested to DNVR’s Zac Stevens that the Broncos might be able to use superstar wide receiver Jaylen Waddle in the return game in 2026 — a suggestion that falls into the “name the most disastrous plan for the season” category for the Broncos.
“Darren Rizzi doesn’t know if he’ll be able to use Jaylen Waddle as a returner, but he loved him coming out of college,” Stevens wrote on his official X account on Thursday.
The Broncos pulled off a blockbuster trade to land Waddle in March, sending the Miami Dolphins their 2026 1st round pick in exchange for the former 1st round pick.
To be clear, teams don’t trade for players like Waddle to have them return kicks and punts. They trade for players like Waddle, who is playing on a 3-year, $84.75 million contract he signed in March 2024, to catch touchdown passes. That’s it.
Suggesting Waddle play special teams is a wild thing for Rizzi to say — and maybe speaks a bit to why he’s not become an NFL head coach yet.
Jaylen Waddle: Elite Return Specialist in College
If Rizzi is saying he liked what he saw of Waddle as a return specialist in college, he has to mean his 1st 2 years at Alabama in 2018 and 2019, when he was, in fact, an elite return specialist who racked up 947 yards and 3 touchdowns — 2 punt returns and 1 kickoff return — on special teams.
If you do even a cursory bit of research, you’ll also know that Waddle suffered the worst injury of his career to this point playing special teams when he broke his ankle returning a kickoff against Tennessee in 2020 — although he returned 3 months later to play in a win over Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Even the Dolphins understood a player like Waddle doesn’t return kicks and punts in the NFL once they’ve shown they’re capable of 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Waddle, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, hasn’t returned punts or kicks since his rookie season in 2021, and even then, only did so in a part-time capacity.
Broncos Already Have NFL All-Pro Return Specialist
What’s even wilder about Rizzi saying what he said about Waddle possibly returning punts and kicks is that the Broncos already have arguably the NFL’s elite return specialist on their roster in 2-time NFL All-Pro and 2-time Pro Bowl return specialist Marvin Mims Jr.
While the Broncos have struggled to find a consistent role on offense for Mims as a wide receiver, he’s made himself invaluable with the opportunities he’s been given.
Mims has averaged 1,336 all-purpose yards over his 1st 3 seasons, scored 8 total touchdowns, and only missed 3 total games due to injuries. Mims had a career-high 1,510 all-purpose yards in 2025 — the only year the 2023 2nd round pick wasn’t named NFL All-Pro to this point.
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