Chargers LB Daiyan Henley returns after the Broncos' shocking trade cancellation

On Tuesday, the Chargers seemingly made a trade with the Broncos for LB Daiyan Henley. In return, they received a 2027 fourth-rounder and a 2028 fifth-round pick. Well, scratch all of that. Henley remains with Los Angeles after Denver seemingly pulled the plug on the deal.

The Denver Broncos released a statement late Wednesday evening to announce that the trade would not be finalized. "The proposed trade involving Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley will not be finalized," the statement read. "We have great respect for Daiyan as a player and person, and we wish him all the best moving forward."

Chargers' failed trade of Daiyan Henley is the cherry on top of a poor showing from the front office at the deadline.

ESPN's Jeff Legwold reported that Henley underwent a physical at the Broncos' team facility on Wednesday. Henley briefly exited and returned to Rams game in Week 8 with what was designated as a shoulder injury. He was listed on the Week 9 injury report vs. Houston, but was a full participant in practice and ultimately played. In the 2025 offseason, Henley had surgery to repair a torn labrum suffered during the previous campaign.

The Broncos have yet to confirm if that's the reason the trade was nixed. They're on their BYE week now and likely won't comment publicly for a bit. HC Jim Harbaugh will speak to the media on Thursday.

The Chargers announced their own side of the Henley trade being cancelled on social media:

Ultimately, the Chargers will leave the trade deadline at 0-8 without having traded a single player for draft compensation. No, it's not Jim Harbaugh or Joe Hortiz's fault that the Broncos cancelled the trade. But Los Angeles did not change their tune on the deadline until basically the day of. The process by the team is the annoying part here. A more active sale should've taken place when they were 0-6 at the BYE. Taking negotiations more seriously could've allowed the team to get picks back for other players even if this deal fell through.

What's next for Henley? He's a free agent at the end of the year. To me, the initial trade by the Chargers indicated he was not a priority to re-sign relative to some of their other impending FAs. There's also a possibility he feels a certain way about the initial trade.

That could all change if talks between Henley and the team were to take place prior to free agency. But now if Henley walks, the comp pick the Chargers receive would be of lesser value compared to the negotiated trade package. The Jaguars qualified for a 5th round comp pick with LB Devin Lloyd walking to Carolina. That was with a salary of $15M AAV.

So, to recap. The Chargers got no picks at the deadline and possibly soured a relationship with a team captain by almost trading him to a division rival. Much like the rest of the Chargers' 0-8 2026 campaign, a complete failure to launch.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow