Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who made an appearance on the "DNVR Broncos" podcast, announced that he "will be there" at the Broncos mandatory minicamp next week amid his holdout and contract dispute. After missing several weeks of practices during OTAs, the veteran wide receiver has decided to leave his private workouts in Florida behind and rejoin the team in Dove Valley to resume his career with the Broncos.
Had Sutton decided to skip out on mandatory minicamp, he would have risked losing up to $101K in fines, per 9News' Mike Klis. Instead, Sutton will be meeting his new rookie quarterback Bo Nix in person for the first time to begin developing their chemistry together. However, in the grand scheme of things, was Sutton's decision to hold out ultimately worth the sacrifice? The answer is obviously not.
The veteran wideout lost days and weeks of reps while working away from the facility when he could have been establishing chemistry and rhythm with his new rookie quarterback and also mentoring the new receivers added to the team. Of course, his decision to hold out was strictly a business decision and nothing more than wanting more money added to his contract, however, in hindsight, the entire situation was a massive failure for Sutton.
Not only did he fail to receive the extra guarantees and reported additional base salary he was seeking, but he's also going to be late to the team's new offensive installs. With a new quarterback and other rookie weapons added to the offense, it is almost certain that head coach Sean Payton has changed up a good amount of the team's offensive playbook meaning Sutton is likely now behind schedule.
In terms of learning the new install, there's a good chance he has already communicated these things with the coaching staff, however, practicing them and learning them abroad are two entirely different things. While Sutton stated he is "looking forward" to working with Bo Nix next week, it certainly would have been more beneficial to himself and the entire offense if he had shown up sooner.
Players standing up for themselves and seeking more earnings is never a wrong thing, however, when you look at the situation in totality, Sutton ultimately wasted his own time and everyone else's during his entire holdout.