Courtland spark: WR fired up about learning
Broncos 2nd-round draft pick ready to get his hands on what veterans bring
Courtland Sutton understands if Demaryius Thomas finds him annoying.
Ever since Thomas reached out to Sutton on Friday night to welcome the Broncos’ second-round draft pick to the team, Sutton has continued to pepper Thomas with text-message questions.
“When are we going to be able to get on the field and start working?”
“How did you get to the point that you’re at?” “How are you elevating that to continue to be great?”
It makes sense that Sutton would want to pick Thomas’ brain. Sutton, the headliner of the group of offensive playmakers the Broncos drafted last week, is already drawing comparisons to Thomas, Denver’s two-time all-pro receiver. Sutton is 6-foot-4, 220 pounds and, according to general manager John Elway and coach Vance Joseph, possesses a “special skill set” that should enable him to develop into the Broncos’ future top passcatching target.
“He has No. 1 traits,” Joseph said. “I am excited
“I am not going to be a guy who sputters and makes plays every now and then and disappears during game time.”
Courtland Sutton, Broncos wide receiver
about a guy like that.”
The Broncos gave Sutton a first-round grade, impressed with the SMU product’s versatility to play outside or in the slot, as well as his smooth routerunning and knack for making highlight-reel catches. Last season, Sutton had 68 receptions for 1,085 yards and 12 touchdowns.
But perhaps Elway most likes Sutton’s still-untapped potential. Sutton entered college as a safety before flipping to the offensive side of the ball. Though Sutton believes his time in the secondary helps him under- stand how to find holes when the defense tries to disguise coverage, he acknowledges he’s still finetuning his skills as a receiver. He credits his season playing for Larry Brown on the SMU basketball team — when he was tasked with boxing out opposing players close to 7feet tall — with helping him develop the physicality he now applies while battling defensive backs for contested balls. And when Sutton gets on the field, his jovial personality and wide smile flips to an intense mentality that “demands respect.”
“I am not going to be a guy who sputters and makes plays every now and then and disappears during game time,” Sutton said. “… I have been that presence on the field.”
Sutton is already acquainted with two of his new pass-catching teammates. He trained at the same Florida facility as DaeSean Hamilton, the Broncos’ fourth-round selection out of Penn State. And while in college, Sutton occasionally reached out to fellow SMU alumnus Emmanuel Sanders, asking for advice on how he reached the NFL from a smaller school.
Now Sutton is excited to observe how the Broncos’ receivers work. He plans to ask a bevy of detailed questions about how to best set up cone drills or catch balls out of the jugs machine. He wants to know the “why,” not just the “what,” in his quest to improve his game.
Naturally, several of those questions will be directed at Thomas. And Sutton can’t wait for when those interactions — annoying or not — move from their cellphones to the field.
“We do have some of the similar traits to play this position,” Sutton said of Thomas. “But I’m still trying to get some of those little traits that make him the great player that he is. I was sending text messages, just asking questions (like), ‘What makes you, you?’ I’m going to continue to do it once I get into the same locker room as him.”