Broncos land Chargers LB Daiyan Henley in deadline-day trade

The Denver Broncos made a deadline move for a linebacker, and they got him from a division rival.

The Los Angeles Chargers are trading linebacker Daiyan Henley to Denver for a 2027 fourth-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Tuesday. The trade came less than an hour before the NFL’s 2 p.m. MT trade deadline.

Henley, 27 next week, is coming off one of his best games of the season. He intercepted Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud in the first quarter of the Chargers’ loss to the Texans on Sunday, only the second interception Stroud had thrown all season.

That loss dropped Los Angeles to 0-8. The Chargers had said for weeks they didn’t plan to sell. On Tuesday, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported they had become “more receptive to trading players over the last 24 hours,” especially players on expiring contracts. Henley was one of them.

He’s in his fourth season out of Nevada and Washington State, racking up 317 tackles in his NFL career, five of those have been sacks and 14 have been for a loss. The former third round pick has played against he Broncos six times with a 3-3 record. He has led the Chargers in tackles in each of the last three seasons.

For Denver, the price wasn’t wild. A fourth-round pick and a fifth-round pick, spread over two drafts, gets the first-place Broncos a starting-caliber linebacker for the second half of the season.

Henley joins Alex Singleton, the AFC Defensive Player of the Month for October, in a defense that has been the main reason Denver leads the AFC West. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph called Singleton “the best backer in football” last week. Henley will be one of the players lined up next to him.

9News’ Mike Klis says he’ll be the backup to Singleton and Justin Strnad as the inside backers. The Broncos have been trying to fill in that slot next to Singleton for a few years, signing Dre Greenlaw for last season then cutting him after it didn’t work out. Strnad had been solid this season but the Broncos have struggled to defend tight ends in recent years — maybe Henley can help there.

Trades between division rivals are rare in the NFL but this one got done as Denver got stronger with their already solid defense.

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