In the end, the “right time” for the Denver Broncos to lock up wide receiver Courtland Sutton for the long term turned out to be the first Monday of training camp.
The Broncos and Sutton, a team captain, agreed to a four-year, $92 million extension that will run through the 2029 season, sources told ESPN. The deal includes $41 million in guarantees, multiple sources said, with the $14 million Sutton could have earned this season (a $13.5 million base salary and a $500,000 workout bonus) now fully guaranteed to go with $27 million in guarantees over the four years of the extension.
Sutton, who was in the final year of the four-year, $60.8 million deal he signed late in the 2021 season, had reported for training camp with the other Denver veterans last Tuesday and had participated in practices Wednesday through Saturday. It had appeared, however, that some concessions had been made while the two sides negotiated since Sutton did very little work in 11-on-11 team drills in those practices, including no team drill snaps in Saturday’s practice.
Coach Sean Payton said last week that there had been “good communication” between the team and Sutton’s representatives and had maintained throughout the offseason that a new deal for the receiver would happen at “the right time.” For his part, Sutton, who is the second-longest-tenured Denver player behind only tackle Garett Bolles, has repeatedly said he wanted to finish his career with the Broncos.
A year ago, Sutton, a second-round pick in the 2018 draft, stayed away from the voluntary portion of the team’s offseason work because he hoped a new deal was in the offing. He did participate in the mandatory minicamp, and the Broncos added some performance incentives to his contract as training camp opened last July — an additional $1.5 million Sutton earned as he met them all.
Sutton and his representatives, multiple sources said earlier this offseason, had made it clear he did not want to play the coming season on his old deal.
Sutton finished 2024 with a career-best 81 receptions as quarterback Bo Nix‘s favorite, and most-trusted, target, as his 1,081 yards and eight touchdowns were the second-highest totals of his career. But perhaps the most notable in all of the numbers was that Sutton was the player Nix was most willing to target in contested situations.
Sutton was tied with Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins for seventh in the league in tight-window targets — separation with the nearest defender of less than a yard when the ball arrived — and was the only Denver player among the league’s top 90 players in the category.
Nix has said he has “so much trust in Court. … He’s going to be in the right spot and battle for everything to make a play. All of our guys battle, but Court is just so good.”
The Broncos added tight end Evan Engram in free agency this past March and selected Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant in the third round of this year’s draft to add to the offense. Payton also believes Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin and Devaughn Vele — Franklin and Vele were 2024 draft picks — are ready to expand their portfolios in the offense.
But Sutton remains Denver’s returning leader in targets (135), receptions, yards and touchdowns. He consistently showed, in OTAs as well as minicamp throughout the spring, that he is often Nix’s first look in a variety of situations.
Sutton, Mims and Franklin took most of the snaps with the starters in the offseason work. Sutton is also one of the unquestioned leaders in the locker room.
“I think Courtland, he’s a resource for the team from a leadership perspective,” Payton said. “There’s a work ethic, and a toughness and a consistency day-to-day. … [He] is such a positive role model and leader for these guys.”
