The Pittsburgh Steelers will more than likely add another wide receiver at some point in the months leading up to the 2024 season. Their unit has a bunch of competition for depth and rotational players, but they are lacking an outside option opposite George Pickens. The options on the free agent market have dwindled to the point where none of them will really upgrade the roster, so it is likely that an addition would come via trade or off the scrap heap once roster cutdowns occur in September.
One logical option could be Denver Broncos WR Courtland Sutton. They are in the middle of a rebuild with very little hope of competing this year. Sutton caught passes from Russell Wilson for the last two seasons, and Zach Azzanni, the WRs coach in Pittsburgh, worked with Sutton in Denver for the first five seasons of his career. A lot of dots can be connected to Sutton as a possible trade candidate.
He also held out of the first voluntary workouts and reportedly requested a new contract, which is a pressure point that could play into a possible trade scenario.
One of the main reasons why it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for the Broncos is they already traded away WR Jerry Jeudy. Trading Sutton would leave them in a tough spot at receiver. But that appears to be less of a concern after the Broncos drafted two receivers in the 2024 NFL Draft and added another in free agency.
“The Broncos’ receiving corps is looking much better than it did when Jeudy was traded,” Chris Tomasson wrote via the Denver Gazette. “The Broncos later in March signed free agent Josh Reynolds, and in last month’s draft, they selected Oregon’s Troy Franklin in the fourth round and Utah’s Devaughn Vele in the seventh. Franklin and Vele were on display over the weekend at the Broncos’ rookie minicamp…and both looked good catching balls from rookie quarterback Bo Nix.”
Vele, in particular, seems to be making a solid impression beyond what was expected of a seventh-round pick. Sean Payton had some nice things to say about him.
“He has good instincts, and he has really, really good ball skills,” Payton said via Tomasson’s article. “He’s looked better than I even thought for a guy his height.”
Vele stands at 6-4, 203 pounds with 33.5-inch arms. That is a very similar stature to Courtland Sutton.
In the middle of a rebuild, the Broncos feeling good about some of their young receivers would go a long way toward pulling the trigger on a Sutton trade. It would help them clear some cap space both in the immediate term and for the future.
Trading Sutton after June 1st defers $3,825,000 in dead money to 2025, with the other $3,825,000 being dead in 2024. If traded prior to June 1st, the full $7,650,000 becomes dead in 2024. They are still on the hook for much of Russell Wilson’s guaranteed money for the next two years, so how much sense does it make to keep Courtland Sutton around at a higher cap hit when they have young, cheap receivers that they like? Saving some cap space and gaining an extra draft pick in the process could make a lot of sense for the Broncos.
“It remains to be seen what will happen with Sutton, who has just $2 million of his $13 million contract guaranteed for 2024 and could be a candidate to be traded,” Tomasson wrote. “But there’s little question the Broncos have improved their receiving corps since Sutton took to social media March 9.”
Other Broncos reporters have shut down the notion of a Sutton trade, and have since doubled down on that stance. One of them has to be right. A potential trade makes too much sense for both sides to write off as impossible.
