Could the Steelers reunite Courtland Sutton with Russell Wilson?

The Steelers may address their need at receiver by trading for Sutton

The Denver Broncos and wide receiver Courtland Sutton are at odds over his contract situation. With a very minimal amount of guaranteed money remaining on his contract. He could find himself once again playing with Russell Wilson as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Backstory

Sutton was drafted in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft, the same year the Steelers would draft wide receiver James Washington eighteen picks later. Sutton is a slightly heavier version but similar build as current Steelers wide receiver George Pickens. Both are 6’3 but Sutton outweighs Pickens by about eighteen pounds.

However, Pickens is the more fleet of foot when compared to Sutton. Coming out of Georgia in the 2023 NFL Draft Pickens was clocked at an official 40-yard dash time of 4.47 seconds to Sutton’s official 40-yard time back in 2018 of 4.54 seconds. Sutton has probably lost some explosion he had coming out of the Draft due to not only his age but, also having previously torn his ACL in his right knee while separately tearing his MCL in the same knee.

The Steelers are hoping to avoid the turnover at the quarterback position that Sutton has endured throughout his NFL career having played with ten different starting quarterbacks over six seasons. Having that level of turnover at the games most important position, not only serves to hold the offense back but also the entire team and organization from reaching their goals.

What has he done in the NFL despite the challenges?

Outside of one season where he put up true number-one wide receiver numbers, he’s proven to be more of a Robin to someone’s Batman. Sutton has a very impressive career yards per-catch number of 14.3. He also posted his his highest career catch percentage last season of 65% playing in fifteen games with new Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson. That is a very attractive number and something that would be helpful for the Steelers offense, as well as Wilson.

Sutton is just ok after the catch having produced 952 yards in his career, he’s not the post-catch threat that Diontae Johnson was for the Steelers or Pickens showed that he could be last season. Nor is he a threat to consistently break tackles. He’s also prone to having a case of the dropsies similar to Johnson having been charged with 31 drops in his career.

Current situation and the likely cost of acquiring him

Sutton has two years remaining on his current contract, but there’s probably not a new deal coming for him in Denver given his age, and the team’s current situation. The strength of the receiver class doesn’t bode well for him getting a new contract either. He will turn 29 years old during the 2024 season, how much and how long is too much to commit to him? That’s a question the Steelers would have to ask themselves. They could do what they did in 2015 with then Steelers receiver Antonio Brown, and essentially give Sutton money from his 2025 contract year, and give him, a raise in 2024. They could rip up his deal and sign him to a new contract with a bit of a raise on his current deal.

The Denver Broncos have an estimated $17,251,447.00 in salary cap space available to them. They are not under any cap issues that would force their hand as far as needing to trade Sutton. The team recently traded receiver Jerry Jeudy to the Cleveland Browns, they seem to be in the initial steps of a full-blown rebuild. While they could also take any of the steps laid out for the Steelers, they’d probably be more interested in a day three selection in this draft.

According to www.overthecap.com a fair trade offer for Sutton would involve the Steelers sending the 2025 seventh-round pick they got from the Philadelphia Eagles as part of trading quarterback Kenny Pickett. The Steelers would then be receiving Sutton and Denver’s 2026 seventh-round selection. The Steelers would have to absorb an estimated $9,745,588.00 that Sutton is due in 2024 salary. The Steelers currently are under the NFL salary cap by $11,139,353.00. They could easily afford such a trade, they’d probably immediately restructure his contract to create some flexibility while making him happy as well. Though they’d be smart to not add any additional years and avoid an albatross situation. While still drafting a receiver with an eye toward that player supplanting Sutton in 2025.