Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior WriterJun 11, 2024, 09:40 PM
Close
- Jeff Legwold is a senior writer who covers the Denver Broncos and the NFL at ESPN. Jeff has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years, joining ESPN in 2013. He also assists with NFL draft coverage, including his annual top 100 prospects. Jeff has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999. He has attended every scouting combine since 1987.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton continues to hope "a stalemate'' over his contract with the team will be resolved before training camp, but said after Tuesday's minicamp practice he could not yet guarantee he would report in late July if it's not.
"We'll see, we'll see what happens,'' Sutton said. "We've got a month to be able to get things situated and hopefully things get situated. ... This is where I want to be, this is home, this is where I want to hoist the Lombardi trophy, this is where I want to retire.''
Sutton, who led the Broncos and was tied for fourth in the league with 10 touchdown receptions last season, had stayed away from the voluntary portions of the Broncos' offseason program, including conditioning and organized team activities. Coach Sean Payton said last week he expected Sutton would attend this week's mandatory minicamp.
Sutton was indeed on the field Tuesday, the first day of a scheduled three-day mandatory minicamp. He was in stretching to open practice and worked briefly in individual drills with the receivers during the open portions of practice. He did not participate in any 7-on-7 or team drills.
"We're going to be smart with that,'' Payton said.
Sutton said Tuesday he and his representatives had considered the possibility of skipping this week's practices, but that would have come at a price. Per the league's collective bargaining agreement, a team's designated mandatory minicamp is the only part of the offseason program a player could be fined for missing.
A player could be fined a total of $101,716 for missing all three days -- the fine is graduated and increases for each individual day missed. If Sutton does not report for training camp, he could be fined for each day he misses.
"My team and I had conversations about [skipping minicamp],'' Sutton said. "But I love ball. ... [But] definitely something that was considered.''
Asked to clarify why he stayed away from the voluntary portion of the offseason program but elected to attend this week Sutton said: "Wanted to make sure it was known, that yeah, I was upset how the contract went about, how the conversation went about, how the stalemate has persisted. But I also want it to be known that I love ball, I love the guys. ... The point has been made already, everyone who needs to know knows what the situation is, hoping that we're able to find a solution and get to the bottom of this because this is where I want to be and just hoping that it's mutual.''
Sutton is in the third year of a four-year, $60.8 million extension he signed during the 2021 season. He is scheduled to earn a base salary of $13 million this season.
He currently has the potential to earn $100,000 in bonuses that are considered "likely to be earned.'' Sutton has had $2 million of his base salary already guaranteed for the season given he remained on the roster through the end of March.
"My team and I have been in contact with the guys upstairs that handle all of that stuff,'' Sutton said. "We've kind of been going back and forth to find the best way to kind of find the middle ground of the situation. We are at a stalemate in a sense, but I have confidence and faith the right thing will be done.''
Sutton also confirmed Tuesday and expounded on surgery he had just after the season to repair an ankle injury. He said he has spent his injury rehab, at the Broncos' recommendation, in Florida.
Sutton said he and Payton are on "the same page'' on his recovery, and Sutton added he believed he would be medically cleared to participate in on-field drills.
The seventh-year veteran, who was the Broncos' second-round pick in the 2018 draft, led the Broncos in receptions (59), yards receiving (772) and touchdowns last season. The Broncos traded wide receiver Jerry Jeudy to the Cleveland Browns just before the draft, and Jeudy then signed a three-year, $52.5 million extension with the Browns.
The Broncos selected two wide receivers in the draft -- Troy Franklin in the fourth round and Devaughn Vele in the seventh round -- and added Josh Reynolds in free agency.
