On Tuesday, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton expressed his belief that veteran wide receiver Courtland Sutton will report for mandatory minicamp next week. Sutton, for the first time in his career, has skipped the entirety of the Broncos’ voluntary offseason training program as he seeks some new money in his current contract.
On the doorstep of mandatory minicamp, Sutton himself announced on the DNVR Podcast that he will report at Broncos HQ next week. Mandatory minicamp runs from June 11-13.
“I will be there,” Sutton said via DNVR. “A small tidbit, it’s been killing me not being able to be at OTAs. This has been a very different offseason than I’ve been a part of since I’ve been in the league.”
🚨BREAKING: Courtland Sutton announces he’ll be at mandatory minicamp next week! #BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/oSJ9i2NO4h
— DNVR Broncos (@DNVR_Broncos) June 6, 2024
Sutton’s use of language here is interesting. To “not be able to be at OTAs” is a unique way of explaining his absences, as if it’s beyond his control.
To be clear, Sutton’s participation in the Broncos’ offseason training program is up to him. And it is voluntary, meaning that he can skip it without any risk of discipline from the team, even though NFL clubs enjoy well north of a 90% attendance rate from veterans traditionally.
No doubt, the veteran wideout’s representatives have advised him to skip voluntary OTAs. The idea being to create leverage and use Sutton’s absence as a bargaining chip to negotiate an amendment to his contract. AKA, a raise.
But it sounds like Sutton’s absence really has been difficult for him. He’d prefer to be here. But even though he has two years left on his contract, he’s set to make $13.5 million as a base salary in 2024, with only $2 million guaranteed. He reportedly wants the floor to be closer to $15.5-$16 million, with an increase in guarantees.
For those unsure of where Sutton’s passions and priorities may lie, he went to great length to describe how much he loves football and competition, and his desire to provide the long-suffering denizens of Broncos Country with a winning product on the field.
“Anybody that knows me and anybody that’s played with me understands that I love this game,” Sutton said via DNVR. “I love the game of ball. I give any and everything that I possibly can when it comes to the preparation. When it comes to the competition of football, I’ll give—man, keeping it PG. Boys know the saying. I would give that up to be able to get us back into the playoffs and to go play for a Super Bowl, and to be able to go out there and do what we know we’re capable of doing for this organization and for this city. No one deserves this more than this city. To be able to go into games where we’re sitting in the situation where we are possibly out of the playoffs, and walking into a stadium that’s pretty much sold out, and to know that the city has so much love for us, that even though we’re down bad, they continue to show love for us, it’s only right for us to come in and give them what they deserve. And the city deserves playoffs. The city deserves to see the Denver Broncos back in the Super Bowl.”
Sutton is coming off a 2023 campaign where he hauled in 59 receptions (on 90 targets) for 772 yards and 10 touchdowns. It’s been a weird, passive/aggressive offseason for the former 2019 Pro Bowler, starting with an odd kind of farewell to Broncos Country on Instagram following the news of Russell Wilson’s imminent release.
That’s been followed up by a few different social media posts that have called Sutton’s future into question. But his most recent comments make it clear that he wants to remain a Bronco and can’t wait to get back to business.
The Broncos are expected to come to the table to make Sutton happy before training camp starts at the end of July. Stay tuned.
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