Broncos reach underwhelming conclusion in Courtland Sutton contract saga

The Denver Broncos have reached a rather anti-climactic conclusion with wide receiver Courtland Sutton and his contract situation. According to NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, Sutton and the Broncos have reached an agreement on a revision for the 2024 season on his current contract which will allow him to make up to $15.2 million with newly added incentives.

Considering the fact that Sutton held out of Broncos OTAs, this feels like a rather underwhelming conclusion in some ways. Sutton obviously didn't want much of a modification to his deal, which includes just $2 million in remaining guaranteed money. His salary for 2025 is not guaranteed, which has led to some speculation that he could be traded this offseason.

Though the Broncos never really gave any indication that Sutton would be traded at all.

In fact, quite the opposite. The Broncos have held onto Sutton despite numerous reports of him being on the trade block, and Sutton went out last year and had arguably the best year of his NFL career with 10 touchdowns.

The Broncos signed Sutton to a contract extension near the end of the 2021 season when he was months away from hitting NFL free agency. Because Sutton never tested the free agent market, there has been some thinking out there that he doesn't feel fairly compensated overall based on the new deals being handed out to players like Jerry Jeudy, Christian Kirk, Calvin Ridley, and others who have not performed as well as Sutton in recent years.

Tim Patrick, who also got a contract extension from the Broncos late in the 2021 season, also had his contract modified this offseason. Except Patrick took a massive pay reduction to stick around in Denver after missing each of the last two seasons with injuries.

It's great that the Broncos were able to reach an agreement with Sutton to keep him happy, but it just doesn't seem like this resolution was worth any sort of distraction or trade rumors. Adding extra incentives worth up to $1.5 million feels like it could have all been handled behind closed doors without any holdout at OTAs or any public anything, really.

But, there is now officially a resolution and this saga is over. We'll see what happens with Sutton and his status on the roster as the season progresses, but it feels like the team wants him around and he can be a huge asset for rookie quarterback Bo Nix.