Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton said that he was thinking about more than himself when it came time to sign a contract extension with the team this week.
Sutton signed a four-year deal worth $92 million that provides a significant boost to his average annual salary. It falls behind the deals signed by a number of other wide receivers this offseason, however, and Sutton could have kept pushing to move further up the ladder if that had been his sole priority.
On Tuesday, Sutton said that he was conscious of how his deal will impact the team’s chances of holding onto other players and that he wanted to do what he could to keep the band together.
“The deal that we wound up signing is a great deal, and it was very beneficial to myself,” Sutton said, via Sean Keeler of the Denver Post. “And it gives us a chance to be able to keep a lot of really good players around on this team and for years to come.”
Edge rusher Nik Bonitto is eligible for an extension and several other defensive regulars are in the final year of their current deals. Holding onto all of them will likely be beyond the Broncos’ capabilities, but Sutton’s deal was an important part of the puzzle they’ll be trying to put together in Denver in the coming months.
Broncos linebacker Dre Greenlaw has had a difficult journey to NFL stardom, and that made it personal to him when he hit free agency in March and had the opportunity to decide for himself where he’d play.
Greenlaw spent much of his childhood in shelters, group homes and the foster system before his high school coach took him in and eventually adopted him. A close relationship with his coach is meaningful to Greenlaw, and Greenlaw said he knew early on in free agency that he could have a close relationship with Broncos head coach Sean Payton.
“They wanted me, you know what I mean?” Greenlaw said. “Throughout the whole time I was talking to Sean, there was never no ifs, ands, buts, maybe this or that. It was like, ‘Man, we want you to be here.’ And I was a foster kid growing up, so there’s not a lot of times that people just wanted me. You know what I’m saying? So it just made me feel special. It made me feel like this is the place where I needed to be.”
Payton has been talking up Greenlaw in training camp, and Greenlaw says the mutual respect he has with Payton as well as the Penner family that owns the team makes him feel at home in Denver.
“The people that’s in the organization, Sean, the Penners, and then the guys . . . I just wanted to be a part of that,” Greenlaw said. “I wanted to be where I was accepted, where I was wanted it. And this was the right place for me.”
The Broncos reached an agreement with Courtland Sutton on a contract extension this week, as the receiver is now under contract with the club through 2029.
On Tuesday, head coach Sean Payton spoke highly of Sutton in his press conference.
“No. 1, I mean, he epitomizes what we’re looking for, and then you match that with his play,” Payton said, via Luca Evans of the Denver Post. “I mean, just each box you’re checking — leadership, work ethic. I’m excited for him and for the club. Sometimes they take a little bit of time, but I think throughout the process, there was never that feeling like it wasn’t going to get done. It was just a matter of when.”
Payton added that Sutton has done well in leading younger players on the roster.
“If he didn’t say a word, the young guys watch his preparation and his work ethic. But yet, obviously his experience with all of those players — but it really starts with his preparation in here [the building] onto the field. He’s everything you want in a pro.”
Sutton, 29, was a Broncos second-round pick in 2018. He had one of the best seasons of his career in 2024, catching 81 passes for 1,081 yards with eight touchdowns in 17 games.
Linebacker Dre Greenlaw made the most of the first day in pads at Broncos training camp.
Greenlaw filled gaps and delivered hits throughout team drills in Denver and head coach Sean Payton said you didn’t even have to be watching to know that Greenlaw was the one landing blows. Payton said “you can hear it” when Greenlaw makes a hit and then went on to compare his style to another knockout artist from a different sport.
“He plays like Mike Tyson,” Payton said, via the team’s website. “He’s tough, he’s physical. He’s built that way. There’s not a lot of leaky yardage. Some guys [allow that]. He’s a knock-back tackler. They stop where he hits them. There’s an intensity to how he plays. He’s one of those players that if you put the film on and didn’t say anything, at some point early, you’d ask, ‘Who is this guy?’”
Greenlaw was limited to two games for the 49ers last year because of injuries and a quad injury interrupted his first offseason in Denver, so one key for the Broncos will be making sure Greenlaw’s healthy enough to deploy that physicality on a regular basis. If he is, facing an already tough Broncos defense will be even less enjoyable for opposing offenses in 2025.
Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton is set to miss some time after an injury in Monday’s training camp practice.
Singleton left the practice session early and Mike Klis of KUSA reports that he broke his thumb. Singleton is expected to miss a week or so as a result of the injury and then should be able to play with a club to protect his hand.
The Broncos lost Drew Sanders to a foot injury over the weekend, so they’ll be thin at the position for the next stretch.
Singleton is returning from a torn ACL that he suffered early last season. He is expected to have a starting role in Denver once he recovers from his current injury.
