Over his time as head coach of the New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos, Sean Payton has made it part of his team’s personality to give undrafted free agents a real shot at making those teams.
While none of them have panned out — yet — with the Broncos, it doesn’t mean Payton will stop trying.
For a team lacking any real depth at wide receiver, that means the Broncos should give another UDFA a chance with UFL star and Arlington Renegades wide receiver Tyler Vaughns.
Vaughns had tongues wagging with a highlight reel catch against the D.C. Defenders on May 18 on a leaping, 1-handed touchdown catch. It’s just one part of Vaughns’ great season for the Renegades, with 30 receptions for 344 yards through 5 games.
“During Sunday’s UFL game with the Arlington Renegades, the former (USC) Trojan made a tremendous catch that had many questioning why he isn’t getting more serious consideration from NFL teams,” Reign of Troy’s Gabriel S. Esparza wrote on May 19.
It’s not the first standout performance for Vaughns this season. He also had seasons highs of 9 receptions for 127 yards and 1 touchdown against the Michigan Panthers on May 10.
Vaughns Spent Time on 2 NFL Practice Squads
Vaughns was a 5-star recruit out of Bishop Amat (Calif.) High School and was a steady and sometimes spectacular performer during 4 seasons at USC, with 222 receptions for 2,801 yards and 20 touchdowns, including career highs of 74 receptions, 912 yards and 6 touchdowns as a junior in 2019.
Unfortunately for Vaughns, his numbers took a huge dip in 2020 because of the pandemic with career lows of 33 receptions for 406 yards and 3 touchdowns while USC went 5-1 while only playing 6 total games. He was still named All-Pac-12 for his efforts.
Vaughns followed that with a disastrous performance at USC’s Pro Day, running the 40-yard dash in 4.69 seconds along with registering a 31.5 inch vertical leap and only repping the 225-pound bench press 7 times. Vaughns’ frame was also under the microscope at 6-foot-2 and just 186 pounds — by any metric not numbers that match up with being an NFL wide receiver.
USC WR Tyler Vaughns (@tswag03) Highlights
Vaughns is so smooth on the field. Watching him run routes is a thing of beauty. The only thing better are his hands #FightOn ✌️
Full Video: t.co/zPE36Wz8so
NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein still projected Vaughns as a seventh round pick or high priority UDFA and Vaughns was not selected in the 2021 NFL draft.
“Vaughns was never an explosive, top-tier wideout in the conference, but ‘steady’ is a very accurate term for him,” Zierlein wrote in 2021. “He’s a long-bodied leaper with excellent timing and body control in mid-air … The ball skills are fun to watch, but he’ll need to improve his play strength and run cleaner routes to hang on as an NFL backup.”
Vaughns spent time on the practice squads for the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021 and 2022 before joining the Renegades in 2023 and winning an XFL championship in his first season.
Broncos Don’t Have Great Answers at Wide Receiver
The Broncos snapped a 5-year drought without a 1,000 yard wide receiver in 2024 with veteran Courtland Sutton going for 81 receptions, 1,081 yards and 8 touchdowns.
After Sutton, the wide receivers don’t have much to rely on in 2025. The Broncos used a 2025 third round pick (No. 74 overall) on Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant and have a pair of potential WR2 options back in DeVaughn Vele and Marvin Mims, but there’s room for a player like Vaughns to step in and earn a roster spot.
