NFL.com Suggests Courtland Sutton Should Take a Pay-Cut 3 Months After Signing Extension

Wait, what? This was a serious article.

As the 2022 offseason kicks into hyperdrive as the NFL Combine begins March 1, the rumors on different moves that will shape the landscape of free agency and the NFL draft are about to reach a boiling point.

The Denver Broncos are one of the teams this offseason with the capital to make moves to improve the roster. Currently sporting the sixth-most salary-cap space in the NFL, according to Over The Cap, at $38 million, and with a fistful of top-100 draft picks, GM George Paton has the flexibility to be aggressive in his pursuit of talent over the next few months.

While the Broncos have plenty of cap space, that doesn’t mean that Paton shouldn’t consider options to create more breathing room and give the team even further flexibility going forward. Given how contracts and the salary cap can be manipulated to create more space, perhaps Paton will finagle a few contracts of current Broncos to allow the team the ability to throw money at such costly positions like edge rusher, offensive tackle, and quarterback to improve the roster.

One player Paton could approach to create cap space for the Broncos this offseason is Courtland Sutton, according to NFL.com’s Cynthia Frelund. Set's hear her out.

Sutton just signed an extension in November, so this would be a restructure. His current cap hit for 2022 is the 18th-highest among wideouts. Sutton definitely has value, as his +8.0 percent catch rate over expected on short passes ranked third in the NFL in 2021 (min. 40 such targets), but Denver could use some extra cash. Even though the Broncos have plenty of cap space at the moment, they could be in the market for a quarterback and a pass rusher -- two expensive commodities -- in an attempt to get back to the top of the ultra-competitive AFC West.

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It would be somewhat shocking for the Broncos to restructure Sutton's contract not even half a year after he signed the new deal to keep him in Denver for the next four seasons. While Sutton struggled a tad against large expectations this year due in large part to coming off of a serious ACL injury and a rather conservative low-volume passing attack, to say nothing of Denver's quarterback play, he's still one of the best young X receivers in the NFL going forward.

Many viewed Sutton’s deal to be a steal against the expectations of his market when he signed it back in November. A four-year, $60.8 million dollar contract is not minuscule but in comparison to a few wide receivers who just received large contracts last offseason — like Kenny Golladay (four years, $72.0 million) and Corey Davis (three years, $37.5 million) — Sutton’s deal looks like a bargain.

It would be somewhat shocking if the Broncos feel the need to restructure Sutton’s contract to create more cap space this offseason. However, if the Broncos obtain a quarterback such Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, or Kyler Murray, all of whom likely come to Denver with a massive new contract in hand, then perhaps the ability to create cap space via Sutton’s contract is a possibility. 

Still, this smacks of offseason drivel. 

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