Two Broncos players claimed off waivers by Dolphins, including Joly

Just 29 players were claimed off waivers Monday. But the Broncos were responsible for two of them — and both landed in the same spot.

Tight end Justin Joly and cornerback Reese Taylor both landed with the Miami Dolphins, who claimed a league-high seven players off the waiver wire Monday, a testament to the quality — or lack thereof — of their roster as they spent the offseason consciously in tear-down-and-rebuild mode.

It came as no surprise that Joly would be claimed, if only because of his draft spot. As the No. 152 overall selection, he was the highest pick to hit the waiver wire Sunday by a 47-choice margin, with some pre-draft projections placing him in the late Day 2 range. In a situation like Joly’s, teams often refer back to their pre-draft analysis and then make the subsequent claim.

When discussing Joly on Sunday, Broncos general manager George Paton described him as a “talented player” and suggested that the outcome might have been different for the North Carolina State product if he’d had more time.

“When we drafted him, we knew he was raw, and we still liked the player,” Paton said. “He’s coming on towards the end of training camp. The tight end position is a tough position for a rookie.

“He missed a lot of the offseason, just a little bit behind. We wish we had another game or two. We still like the player. We think he’s gonna to have a nice career. You just gotta make tough decisions to build the best 53 you can make.”

 

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Denver kept seventh-round tight end Dallen Bentley, who projects as a “Y” tight end and is more of an inside option than Joly, who projects as an “F” tight end who primarily operates in space.

Taylor has spent most of the last three seasons on the Broncos’ practice squad, although he moved up to the 53-player roster last November. He played in six total games for the team over his three seasons, including last January’s AFC Championship Game.

During those six games over the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Taylor never played a single defensive snap; all of his work came on special teams. He had 13 snaps in that phase during the single game he playsed in 2024 and 92 snaps on special teams over five games in the 2025 campaign, including 19 in the AFC Championship.

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