Denver Broncos: Why Courtland Sutton may not be seen as one of league’s elite

After a terrific second year in the league, many feel that Courtland Sutton will emerge as one of the NFL’s best wide receivers.

After a 42-catch rookie season in 2018, Courtland Sutton exploded with 72 receptions for 1,112 yards and six touchdowns last season. As the No.1 wide receiver in a blossoming Denver offense, he was also selected to the Pro Bowl.

It can only go up from there, right?

Before we start putting Sutton’s name in there with the Michael Thomas’ and Julio Jones’ of the league, among others, we must first examine his current situation. His current situation is quite a bit different than the situation he was in last year.

He did catch 72 passes last year, but he did that with the other wide receivers being DaeSean Hamilton and Tim Patrick. Yes, Emmanuel Sanders spent the first part of the season there too. Had the team not traded him, Sutton likely would have had far fewer receptions.

Because the team selected wide receivers in each of the first two rounds of the draft, there will be plenty of mouths to feed in the Denver offense, including second-year tight end Noah Fant.

Sutton should still put up a good season in 2020, but the elite receivers in the league are the guys who post the big numbers. You could make the argument that first-round pick Jerry Jeudy could end up proving to be the real No.1 wide receiver on the team by the end of the year.

Last season, only five players had 100 receptions or more and one of them (Christian McCaffrey0 is a running back. There were 29 players who had more than Sutton’s 72 receptions last year.

For the record, a 100-catch season has only happened 10 times in Broncos history.

That doesn’t mean it can’t happen for Sutton, but this seems more like an offense that is going to spread the ball around and have Drew Lock get the ball to numerous targets each game, rather than to focus on just one guy.

Sutton is going to make plays and the Broncos are going to utilize his size and big-play ability. But they are also going to utilize Jeudy’s terrific route running and ability to get open just as they will maximize the speed of K.J. Hamler.

Not long ago, former All-Pro wide receiver Chad Johnson tweeted this out.

That might be lofty praise, but it’s going to be difficult for any of these guys to jump out and be considered among the best wide receivers in the NFL, simply because statistics generally dictate that discussion and guys like Thomas, Jones and DeAndre Hopkins are most likely going to post bigger numbers.

But that doesn’t mean the Broncos won’t have the best group of pass-catchers in the league.