Denver Broncos rookie wide receiver Courtland Sutton has made an impact this year, but he’s yet to truly break out. That could happen soon.
The Denver Broncos got a great value in Courtland Sutton in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and he’s proven himself as a big play threat so far in his rookie season.
In 11 games, Sutton has 24 receptions and is averaging a whopping 19.7 yards per catch. That’s a remarkable number.
Even though Sutton has been with the Broncos for more games this season, he has four fewer targets than Demaryius Thomas, who had 56 targets prior to being traded to the Houston Texans. Despite having four fewer targets and 12 fewer receptions, Sutton has 71 more yards than Thomas did while he was with Denver.
With Jeff Heuerman now out for the season and Thomas in Houston, it’s only a matter of time before Sutton really establishes himself as the Broncos’ number two receiver behind Emmanuel Sanders, but we’re still waiting for that breakout game.
Sutton’s talent is elite, but permit me to be a bit negative for a moment. All throughout the offseason, training camp, and preseason, Sutton was billed as this 60-40 type of receiver, meaning when given the chance to catch a ’50-50′ ball, he was going to come down with it more often than not.
Well, through 11 games, Sutton has caught 46.2 percent of his targets, the second lowest number on the team.
In order to be a big-time receiver in the NFL, you have to make sure you capitalize on the opportunities you’re given.
This is not an indictment on Sutton, but a challenge to be better and to really start imposing his will. What are we looking for? It would be awesome to see Sutton go off in a game for over 100 yards and multiple touchdowns.
That would certainly qualify as a ‘breakout’.
But to this point, I don’t think we’ve even touched the surface of what Sutton is capable of being. Yes, he can come down with those jump balls and turn a 50-50 situation into a 60-40, but I want to see consistently from Sutton what we saw late in the game against the Chargers a couple of weeks ago.
Sutton is a big play threat but he’s still got a lot to learn. He will have a great opportunity against the Cincinnati Bengals to have that breakout game, just like some of the rest of his teammates.
The Bengals have the worst defense in the NFL from a points and yardage standpoint.
It doesn’t bode well for them that, among the players in the league this year with at least 20 catches, no one is averaging more yards per catch than Sutton.
The breakout will come, we just can’t wait for it.