Courtland Sutton has become the latest Bronco to show his frustration with an offense that keeps coming up short.
According to a report from Sam Jane of the Denver Post, the veteran receiver has joined a growing group of Denver pass-catchers who are unhappy with how things are going. Sutton is normally one of the team’s steadiest options, but this season has gone in a very different direction. Jane described it as the worst start of Sutton’s career, and that rough stretch was on display when Sutton was seen pounding his fists into the ground multiple times after taking a shot in the ribs and dropping a third-down pass from quarterback Bo Nix.
The numbers back up how rough this has been. Through six games, Sutton has only 13 catches for 123 yards. Before this season, Jane noted that Sutton had averaged 25 catches for 361 yards over the Broncos’ first six games.
The frustration isn’t limited to Sutton. Denver’s trade for Jaylen Waddle was supposed to give the offense a new No. 1 receiver, but he and Sutton have barely moved the needle, according to Jane. Both players are on pace to finish with career lows in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns.
Waddle’s early stretch with the Broncos has been especially rocky on a per-game basis. He has played in 84 NFL games overall, and four of his 10 lowest single-game receiving totals - along with five of his 20 lowest - have already come in his first six games in Denver.
The tension around the offense has started to spill into public view. There wasn’t much open finger-pointing before the Broncos’ offense-less win over the Seattle Seahawks, but that changed afterward, with Nix taking the heat. Prime Video analyst and former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick called Nix’s showing against Seattle a “garbage” performance.
The issue, as Jane laid it out, isn’t all that complicated on the football side. Nix hasn’t been attacking downfield, which is where Sutton and Waddle do their best work. Instead, Denver’s passing game has largely turned into checkdowns to running backs and tight ends, usually on short throws toward the sidelines.
Defenses have responded by sitting in two-high safety looks on passing downs, and the Broncos haven’t been able to punish them for it. With the running game failing to become effective enough to change that picture, Sutton and Waddle have been left with very little space to work.
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The reaction around the performance came quickly, with media voices like Ryan Fitzpatrick and Colin Cowherd zeroing in on his tendency to settle for checkdowns instead of challenging defenses deeper. For a Broncos team trying to build around him, that kind of critique is more than background noise because it speaks directly to the style they think can work long term. The bigger question now is whether this was just a rough afternoon or a sign of a debate that is only going to get louder. [Read more 🡒]