Denver Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton cracked the Top 100 for the first time in him impressive career.
The Denver Broncos are overhauling their wide receiving corps, and they made a big trade to acquire Jaylen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins. But their other leading receiver, Courtland Sutton, just made the NFL’s Top 100 list, and he ranked No. 68.
It’s an impressive achievement for a player who’s basically a possession receiver, but Sutton has proven to be one of the most reliable options in the NFL. He’s also taken on a leadership role among the other receivers, as the Broncos have one of the youngest receiving groups in the NFL.
Sutton more than deserves this honor. According to Bobby Kownack, who did the writeup for this part of the list, Sutton posted back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons for the first time in his career, and he was named to his first Pro Bowl since 2019. This is Sutton’s first appearance in the Top 100, and he ranked surprisingly high.
Sutton has also served as a security blanket of sorts for quarterback Bo Nix, and the writer referred to the receiver as a “monster on money downs.” Sutton had an NFL-leading 15 explosive plays—i.e., 15 yards or more—on third and fourth down last season, and he’s expecting Waddle to give him even better opportunities as Denver tries to become more explosive.
His total yardage on those money downs was 507 ystfd, which was an increase from his league-leading figure of 466 yards on the same downs the year before.
Sutton and Waddle are expected to be formidable weapons, but there are a couple of other shoes that should drop here. Waddle will undoubtedly turn up somewhere in this list, so it will be interesting to see where and how that’s interpreted by both the media, fans and the other Broncos players.
The other players will also play a huge role in all of this, the receivers especially. Marvin Mims Jr. has already talked about being the odd man out, and he’s been fishing for an extension as a result, even though the chances of him getting it are slim and none right now.
It almost feels like Denver has already made the decision to move on from Mims, and Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant also know their opportunities will be limited. On paper this is a great move, but remains to be seen how it works out on the field when opportunities and targets are intrinsically limited by Waddle’s arrival.
