Courtland Sutton enters his fifth year in the NFL as the Denver Broncos number one wide receiver. He, along with teammates Jerry Jeudy and Tim Patrick, headline one of the best receiver trios in the league in 2022. With the addition of quarterback Russell Wilson, the Broncos look to contend in the competitive AFC West. Sutton has never had the pleasure to play with a quarterback of Wilson’s standards, so Sutton is expected to have a career year in 2022.
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2022 Fantasy Football Profile: Courtland Sutton
2021 Season Recap
In 2021, Sutton had his worst healthy season since his rookie year finishing with 58 catches, 776 yards, and two touchdowns. He finished the 2021 season as WR44, averaging 8.8 PPR points per game. The Broncos finished in the bottom 10 of the league in points per game and passing touchdowns. Sutton was stuck in a deep receiving core on a run heavy team with inferior quarterback play. His good stretch of play came when teammate Jerry Jeudy was injured.
From Week 2 through Week 7 when Jeudy was hurt Sutton averaged 16.9 ppr points per game and was WR10 during that stretch. After that, from Week 8 to Week 18, Sutton was WR86 and only surpassed 50 yards in one game the rest of the season.
2022 Outlook
Sutton enters the season looking to fully recover from his 2020 ACL tear. Most players don’t fully recover until the second year and Sutton is hoping to return to his 2019 form. The addition of former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson will be a big part of that happening. Sutton has never had good quarterback play; his best season came with Joe Flacco, Brandon Allen, and Drew Lock throwing to him. According to fantasypros, Sutton finished seventh in the league in air yards in 2021. This seems to be the perfect fit for Russell Wilson, who is known for his deep ball accuracy.
Russell Wilson ranked 1st in air yards per attempt.
Jerry Jeudy ranked 53rd in aDOT (average depth of target) and 65th in unrealized air yards of all eligible WRs.
Courtland Sutton ranked 2nd in aDOT and 5th in unrealized air yards.
Sutton is the WR1, he fits Russ’s play style
— Rob (@Quintorris_) July 18, 2022
Although the Broncos have a deep receiving core, Sutton seems to be the perfect receiver for Russell Wilson. Sutton compares favorably to Wilsons former Pro Bowl teammate D.K. Metcalf. Sutton and Metcalf both being 6’4 and over 215 pounds leads to most of the comparisons. You shouldn’t be worried about the Broncos deep receiving core effecting Sutton.
In 2020, both Metcalf and Tyler Lockett finished as top 10 wide receivers in fantasy. Wilson can do the same for Sutton along with the group of Jeudy, Patrick, and Hamler. Training camp will be exciting to see which player wins the number two spot behind Sutton. The Broncos are also expected to pass more in 2022 with the addition of offensive minded Head Coach Nathaniel Hackett.
The Russell Wilson Effect
Courtland Sutton fantasy football owners are drawing comparisons to Wilson’s former teammate DK Metcalf and is one reason why people are excited for him in 2022. Since entering the league in 2019 Metcalf has been a touchdown machine.
DK Metcalf is a proven touchdown threat
Since entering the league only 4 players have caught more TDs than DK Metcalf (29)
Metcalf has scored a TD in 44.9% of his career games
See why he's better for best ball leagues: https://t.co/phdXgL1std
— Sharp Football Analysis (@SharpFBAnalysis) June 17, 2022
Over the course of Wilsons career excluding last season when he was injured he has finished as QB6 per season. Over the course of Suttons career his quarterbacks have averaged out to finish as QB21 in those three years.
ADP
Sutton is currently going as WR25 and at the end of the fifth round. Him finishing as WR46 in 2021 makes sense that people would not want to trust him in 2022. But the Wilson addition completely changes his trajectory. Sutton is going behind Amari Cooper, Metcalf, and Terry McLaurin who all have quarterback questions entering the pre season. Due to Wilsons past with number one wide receivers, Sutton has top 10 upside, so the fifth round is a steal to land Sutton going into this season.
