Fowler: Broncos WR Courtland Sutton Wants Pay Raise To $15M-$16M This Year

With June 1 now right around the corner, it will be interesting to see if any trades are made around the NFL starting on June 2. Specifically, it will be interesting to see if any wide receivers are traded. One wide receiver most will have their eyes on these next few weeks is Courtland Sutton of the Denver Broncos, who is reportedly unhappy with his current contract and has thus not been attending the team’s OTA sessions to date.

Ten days ago, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN was on SportsCenter, and he passed along a report on what Sutton might be looking for in terms of additional money. We finally tracked down that recording on Tuesday.

“Okay, let’s go out to Denver. You’ve got Courtland Sutton, two years left on his deal, but he has been staying away from Denver during their offseason workouts,” Fowler said on May 18. “Working out on his own in Florida. So, he wants a bit of a raise here.

“The Denver Broncos have been speaking with Sutton and his representatives. No real progress yet, so even though they were hoping he shows up for OTAs, he very well might not be there. He is due about $13.6 million in cash this year. He’d like to see that get up maybe in that $15, $16 million range. We’ll see if they can find a sweet spot.”

Obviously, that report by Fowler was made prior to the Broncos starting their annual OTAs and pretty much as expected, Sutton decided not to attend the voluntary practices. Since then, Broncos HC Sean Payton was asked last week about the current status of Sutton, and he quickly brushed off the question.

“There isn’t any concern,” Payton said this past Friday when asked about Sutton’s OTA absence. “Here’s why. I know Courtland well. He’s a tremendous worker. A tremendous makeup. Leader of our team. That will sort itself out.”

Obviously, if Sutton were not to attend the upcoming Broncos mandatory minicamp, he would be subject to being fined a total of $101,716. Their mandatory minicamp runs June 11-13, by the way.

Now, back to Fowler’s May 18 report on Sutton. His stating that Sutton is looking for only $15-$16 million in 2024 is quite interesting. According to Over the Cap, Sutton is currently scheduled to make $13,570,588 in 2024, with just $2 million of that being fully guaranteed. The max he can earn if he plays in every game in 2024 is $13.6 million, and on top of that, Sutton is scheduled to earn a max of $14 million in 2025, the final year of his current contract.

If you’re scoring at home, Sutton currently carries a new money average of $15 million, and that has him ranked just inside the top 25 highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL as we head closer to June. If the Broncos were to decide to trade Sutton after June 1, they would incur a dead money charge of $3.825 million in 2024 and another matching dead money charge in 2025. That’s why it would make sense for the Broncos to trade him after June 1, if they are even looking to trade him at all.

It’s been easy this offseason to link the Pittsburgh Steelers as a possible trade suitor when it comes to Sutton. First, Sutton played the last two seasons in Denver with new Steelers QB Russell Wilson. Additionally, new Steelers wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni coached Sutton in Denver from 2018 through 2022. Those are some pretty strong links.

While we don’t even know for sure if the Broncos are indeed considering trading Sutton, if they did, and if the Steelers were the acquiring team, Pittsburgh would need to be able to accommodate an initial 2024 salary cap charge of $13,570,588. As of the time of this post, that’s certainly doable.

Assuming Sutton still wanted the kind of raise that Fowler mentioned in his May 18 report, the Steelers would probably need to handle that via a signing bonus and one that would result in Sutton’s 2024 base salary lowering considerably. The byproduct of such a contract manipulation, and assuming Sutton was paid $16 million in cash in 2024, would be his cap change this season dropping by right around $4.5 million. That also assumes no additional years being added to his current contract.

The Steelers could also just get Sutton to rip up his old deal and do a new one, and one that would go longer than the 2025 season. Whatever the path, you could bet that Sutton’s 2024 salary cap charge would wind up being a lot lower than the initial amount of $13,570,588.

Now, we haven’t even touched the subject of what it would cost the Steelers in draft capital to acquire Sutton from the Broncos, assuming they are even willing to deal him in the coming weeks. That’s another whole can of worms to think about and discuss. Give us your opinion in the comments, if you so please.

As things sit here in late May, the Broncos have quite a depth chart at the wide receiver position. Their wide receiver room currently includes the likes of Sutton, Josh Reynolds, Marvin Mims Jr., Tim Patrick, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, and Troy Franklin. Additionally, the rest of the wide receiver depth chart is rounded out with the likes of Phillip Dorsett, Brandon Johnson, David Sills V, Michael Bandy, and Devaughn Vele.

Reynolds, by the way, was signed to a two-year, $14 million free agent contract earlier in the offseason, while Franklin was selected by Denver in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Mims, by the way, was selected by the Broncos in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft. In short, it’s not unthinkable that the Broncos might trade Sutton between now and the start of the 2024 regular season.

In closing, Fowler reported right before the 2024 NFL Draft that the Steelers were a “team to watch” when it came to trade talks for Sutton.

“Denver has received several trade calls on him but [hasn’t] planned to trade him,” Fowler said right ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft.” Pittsburgh could be a team to watch here.”

Obviously, the Broncos ultimately didn’t move Sutton during the 2024 NFL Draft. On top of that, the Steelers went on to select former Michigan WR Roman Wilson in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft and the team has since signed veteran WR Scotty Miller to their roster as well. Even so, the Steelers did free up a ton of salary cap space ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft by restructuring the contract of OLB Alex Highsmith, and that led many of us to believe that they did so just in case they were able to trade for a wide receiver.

How will this all play out for the Broncos, Sutton, and the Steelers? It’s really hard to say at this point. Even so, and with June 1 quickly approaching, if Sutton were to be dealt, I would personally have the Steelers as the favorites to acquire him right now.