PHOENIX — The Broncos considered trading for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle in November at the trade deadline, but the timing wasn’t right.

Two weeks ago, it was.

“It had to be a unique circumstance for us to do this, to make a trade like this, and we just felt this was too unique to pass up,” Denver General Manager George Paton said Monday at the NFL owners meetings at the Arizona Biltmore.

Paton spoke to the media for the first time since the Broncos on March 18 acquired Waddle and a fourth-round pick from Miami for first-, third- and fourth-round selections. He said when the Broncos were talking to the Dolphins last November about Waddle, things didn’t “get very far” for a number of reasons.

“We were healthy at receiver,” Paton said. “We were unhealthy toward the end of the season, and so we liked our group. I mean, we were on a win streak. We were rolling pretty good, and … they were asking a lot at that time (in compensation).”

Denver ended up going 14-3 before losing in the AFC Championship Game 10-7 to New England. Then talks started up again with the Dolphins about Waddle at the scouting combine in February in Indianapolis, and the Broncos eventually agreed to part with their No. 30 pick in the first round and other compensation.

“(We) got through our offseason process with our roster and then free-agent meetings, and, really, it was just kind of still out there,’’ Paton said. “I reached out to (Dolphins general manager) Jon-Eric (Sullivan), and it kind of started from there. … He’s one of the more explosive playmakers in the league, first and foremost. Great makeup. Great competitor. He’ll fit in well with our room.”

With that in mind, Paton said there are no plans to trade any of Denver’s other receivers.

“Why would we build up this room then trade someone right now?” he said.

After the Waddle trade was made, Paton spoke to cornerback Pat Surtain II and quarterback Bo Nix. He said Surtain, who played with Waddle at Alabama, was “screaming” and “very happy” and Nix was “pretty excited.”

Paton does not believe the Broncos gave up too much for Waddle, who has been their only marquee addition since the March 11 start of the NFL new league year. The only outside free agent the Broncos have signed is safety Tycen Anderson, who is most adept on special teams.

“We went into (free agency) and we were prepared to be aggressive if we thought that there was an opportunity,” said Broncos Owner Greg Penner. “At the same time, we weren’t going to be aggressive just to be aggressive. We love the guys that we have in our locker room. … The bar was high if we were going to go get someone in free agency that we thought could be a better addition.

“The opportunistic part was when we saw something to take a big swing (on), we were going to be willing to take a big swing. That is what we did with the Waddle trade. … Obviously, he is a tremendous playmaker but also a great locker-room guy. He has grit, professionalism and a high level of intellectual-ness around football and his performance.”

Paton said who was available in free agency and in the draft factored into the Waddle deal. He said the low number of outside new players coming in had to do with the Broncos having signed 10 impact players over the past two years to contract extensions and the decision to re-sign 17 unrestricted, restricted and exclusive rights free agents.

Two unrestricted free agents re-signed were linebackers Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad. That resulted in the Broncos releasing Dre Greenlaw on March 12 after one injury-riddled season with the team.

“Singleton and Strnad are just really good players,” Paton said. “And Dre, we couldn’t keep the three of them. Dre helped us win a bunch of games. He helped our culture. We wish him the best, but we’re really happy to have Strnad and Singleton.’’

Greenlaw missed eight games with injuries and one due to an NFL suspension after being signed as a free agent last March after six seasons with San Francisco. He quickly re-signed with the 49ers after being let go by Denver.

“Just how much we loved Dre as a person, how much we love him as a player,’’ 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday about bringing back Greenlaw. “He’s one of the best linebackers I’ve ever coached and I’ve been around some good (ones). What he’s meant to the Niners organization and we hated being away from him and we’re pumped to get him back.”

The Broncos did retain another player who had an injury issue in running back J.K. Dobbins. Dobbins, who suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 10 after rushing for 772 yards, was brought back on a two-year, $16 million deal.

“He’s completely healthy now,’’ Paton said. “That injury was (on) a hip-drop (tackle). You know, it was a freak (injury). His body didn’t break down. He could have played in the Super Bowl (if the Broncos made it). This guy, from the minute he walked in our building, changed it, and we just didn’t want to let him leave.”

Paton said the Broncos “like the backs” they have now. But he said they will continue to look at running backs in free agency and in the April 23-25 draft.

After trading their first-round selection, the Broncos won’t pick in the draft until No. 62 in the second round and then not again until the fourth round. But Paton didn’t rule out that changing.

“It doesn’t mean we won’t trade up at some point, but we’ll have a really good feel for the 62nd pick,’’ he said. “We took (wide receiver Marvin) Mims at (63 in 2023), (outside linebacker Nik) Bonito 64 (in 2022), (running back R.J.) Harvey (at) 60 (in 2025). So we have a pretty good feel of that (draft position).”

Paton also has a good feel about having landed Waddle.

“We’d done a lot of work at the trade deadline,’’ he said. “We felt like we knew the player well, we knew the person even better, and so I feel really good about the trade.”