WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Denver announced late Wednesday that its trade to acquire Daiyan Henley from the Chargers will not be finalized.
- Henley underwent a physical Wednesday after the deal was announced as pending a physical, but Denver provided no reason for the outcome.
- The proposed return was a 2027 round four draft pick and a 2028 round five draft pick.
- Henley leads the Chargers with 51 tackles this season and has 317 tackles, five sacks and four interceptions in 56 career games.
Linebacker Daiyan Henley will not be joining the Denver Broncos after all. The team announced late Wednesday night on social media that its trade with the Los Angeles Chargers to acquire Henley would not be finalized.
The Broncos did not provide a reason for the trade being scuttled. According to team sources, Henley was at the Broncos’ complex Wednesday and underwent a physical.
Denver had announced the acquisition shortly before Tuesday’s trade deadline. At that time, the Broncos said the agreement was pending a physical, leaving the transaction incomplete until that step was finished.
The Broncos had agreed to send the Chargers a 2027 round four draft pick and a 2028 round five draft pick in exchange for Henley. The proposed deal would have moved him from a winless team to the team currently in first place in the AFC West.
Neither Broncos coach Sean Payton nor general manager George Paton publicly commented on the trade Tuesday or Wednesday. Denver is on its bye week, and Payton gave the players the week off.
The Broncos did address Henley in the statement announcing that the deal would not be completed. The team expressed its regard for the linebacker while confirming that the transaction had stopped.
“We have great respect for Daiyan as a player and person, and we wish him all the best moving forward,” the Broncos said in their statement.
Henley will turn 27 in a week and is in the final year of his rookie deal. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in 2027.
The Chargers selected Henley in the third round of the 2023 draft with the 85th overall pick. They welcomed him back in a social media post late Wednesday, shortly after Denver announced that the trade would not be finalized.
Henley has been a healthy player with 41 starts in 42 games over the past three seasons combined. That stretch includes all eight of the Chargers’ games this year.
The Broncos are 7-2 and have won five consecutive games. Before the Henley deal fell through, they had been pursuing additional depth at inside linebacker for a defense that ranks 23rd in run defense.
Alex Singleton is in the midst of one of the best years of his career. He also leads the league’s defensive players with 617 snaps played through the first nine weeks of the season.
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Henley leads the Chargers with 51 tackles this season. He also was their leading tackler in each of the previous two seasons, recording 100 tackles in consecutive seasons.
Across 56 career games with the Chargers, Henley has recorded 317 tackles, five sacks and four interceptions. His 41 starts over the past three seasons were part of the experience Denver had agreed to acquire before announcing that the deal would not be completed.
The Broncos’ next game is scheduled for Nov. 22 against the Las Vegas Raiders in Denver. They will return from their bye week without Henley joining their inside linebacker group.
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