Courtland Sutton will likely get eight games to impress Sean Payton

The Denver Broncos can deny all they want they didn’t try to trade Courtland Sutton this offseason.

I’m not buying it.

It’s no secret that Sutton is overpaid, counting for more than $18 million against Denver’s salary cap this season.

And it’s also not a secret that Sutton has underperformed since getting the new deal, seemingly still not healed from his torn ACL suffered back in 2020. Sutton caught just two touchdowns last season and only went for 829 yards. That’s a far cry from his more than 1,100 yards and six TDs in 2019.

Sutton’s a good guy, but injuries can derail even the best man’s football talent. Hopefully this is a moot point, but it’s hard to see this finally be the season everything clicks again after it didn’t in 2021 or 2022.

That’s why Sutton has eight games to impress Sean Payton, or those trade rumblings will turn into action. Sutton may no longer be wearing orange and blue come Nov. 1, the day after the trade deadline.

Denver’s wide receiver room is crowded with big wallets, but not necessarily big production. Tim Patrick got a nice new deal, and tore his ACL last summer. Jerry Jeudy finally saw things click last year towards the end of the season, and it resulted in his fifth-year option getting picked up.

But GM George Paton is the one who committed to all these guys, not the new head coach. And by all accounts, Payton with a “y” is the one now calling the shots.

Russell Wilson needs weapons, but the team also needs to be smart. If someone offers a draft choice come Halloween for Sutton, and is willing to eat the money, Payton’s going to be temped to pull the trigger. Especially if Sutton isn’t producing the way he would like.

Trades during an NFL season used to be a big deal. Now they’re more common. Heck, we’ve seen Von Miller and Bradley Chubb moved before the deadline the last two years. It happens, especially if the team is already out of it.

And while Miller and Chubb fetched fairly premium draft picks, Sutton would be more of a salary dump and giving guys like rookie Marvin Mims Jr. a chance to step into a larger role.

That’s why so much hinges on Sutton future with the Broncos based on how he plays in the first two months of the season. If he looks like his old self again, great. If not, those phones will be burning up at Dove Valley.

It’s unrealistic to think Payton didn’t know he was signing up for a potential rebuild. And if the Broncos come out of the gates at 3-5 or 2-6, then it’ll be time to finally tear this thing down. That’s something John Elway was reluctant to ever do, and because of it Denver hasn’t made the playoffs since the Super Bowl 50 season.

Obviously, Wilson’s contract is massive and no other team is taking that one. But after him, you start looking at veterans who could be shopped, and Sutton tops the list. You could make a case teams will call about safety Justin Simmons, but he’d be a much more painful player to move on from.

It’s hard to see Jeudy going anywhere, given the contract decision made this offseason. And Patrick’s value likely won’t be nearly as high after the injury. Plus, while his contract isn’t great, it’s still better than Sutton’s. He’ll count for about $11 million against the cap this year.

Maybe none of this will come to fruition. Maybe, for once in the last seven years, the Broncos will be buyers and not sellers at the deadline. That would put a lot of smiles on the faces of Broncos Country, but we also have to live in reality.

It’s a big season for a lot of guys in Denver. But for Sutton, it’s the biggest of his career. And he might not even get a full one to show he should be part of the Broncos’ future plans.

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