Earlier this week, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton told the media that he thinks WR Courtland Sutton will end his holdout and show up for mandatory minicamp next week but added that he doesn’t know that for sure.
Sutton spoke to the Denver media today and cleared the air, stating his intent to return to the team for minicamp. He was asked if he will be there in a live video posted by DNVR Sports on YouTube.
“I will be there,” Sutton said. “A small tidbit—it’s been killing me not being able to be at OTAs, man. This has been a very different offseason than I’ve been a part of since I’ve been in the league. Anybody that knows me and anybody that’s played with me understands that I love this game, man. I love the game of ball.
“I give any and everything that I possibly can when it comes to the preparation, when it comes to the competition of football…I will give up [anything] to be able to get us back into the playoffs and to go play for a Super Bowl and to be able to go out and do what we know we’re capable of doing for this organization and for this city.”
It is hard to say what this means for his contract negotiations. Look no further than Cameron Heyward in Pittsburgh, holding out due to contract negotiations from the voluntary offseason training activities. He showed back up because he felt like it was the right thing to do as a leader of the team, but stated there hasn’t really been progress on the contract front.
Sutton could very well be doing a similar thing. Payton has repeatedly spoken about Sutton being a leader of the group to further the possible parallels between the two situations. This could also mean that Sutton is making some strides with the Broncos’ front office toward a new contract. It’s hard to tell.
Regardless, he very clearly wants to remain with the Broncos in talking about bringing glory back to the city. Will he concede on his contract demands to make that happen? Of course, a possible trade would be out of his control as that would be the decision of the front office. But as Payton continues to talk him up as a leader of this team and express confidence that the situation will work itself out, a potential trade to the Steelers seems less and less likely.
Courtland Sutton has been one of the most probable candidates when it comes to a WR trade for the Steelers due to his lower salary than Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk once he signs his deal. If he ultimately does not end up being available, the Steelers will continue to be in a tough situation if they do indeed want to add to that room.
