Courtland Sutton’s season is over. On Monday morning, doctors confirmed that the Broncos’ talented wide receiver has suffered a torn ACL (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport).
Sutton, 25 in October, was forced out early from Sunday’s game against the Steelers, but not before he notched three receptions for 66 yards. For the Broncos, it was a tantalizing preview of what could have been another impressive season. Last year, Sutton enjoyed a breakout campaign, finishing out with 72 grabs for 1,112 yards and six touchdowns.
It’s another devastating blow for the Broncos, who have been bit hard by the injury bug recently. Right before the season started, star pass-rusher Von Miller was likely lost for the year with an ankle injury. Then on Sunday, quarterback Drew Lock went down as well, and will miss multiple games with a shoulder injury. Starting cornerback A.J. Bouye and running back Phillip Lindsay are also currently on the shelf.
Sutton missed Week 1 with a shoulder injury, and had just made his return against Pittsburgh. In his absence, rookie first-round pick Jerry Jeudy will take on a more prominent role in the offense. Fellow young pass-catchers like DaeSean Hamilton, K.J. Hamler, and tight end Noah Fant will all be leaned on more as well.
Fortunately, Sutton should be ready in time for the start of the 2021 season. At 0-2 now and with a depleted roster, it’s looking like a potential lost year for the Broncos. Jeff Driskel will start at quarterback for the time being.
There goes another one on my fantasy team… It’s awful what’s happening. I wonder if the lack of preseason games is contributing to this since starters have gone straight to full bore where they would get to ramp up in shorter stints during those games.
No practice or shortened practice time doesn’t help with preparing the body for a lot of physical activity.
Hamilton and Hamler are PSU grads. I wish them well.
All these injures definitely prove the pre-season in necessary. The amount of injuries that have piled up is far worse than the freak injuries in the pre-season ala Jordy Nelson.
They don’t definitely prove anything. Maybe half of these were wear and tear injuries that would have happened in a preseason game. Maybe this is a freak cluster of injuries that will even out over the course of the year.
The preseason thing just isn’t that simple. Two of the biggest injuries this week were to guys who didn’t play in the preseason last year. The Rams have held a bunch of veterans out of preseason play, yet Andrew Whitworth keeps playing 16 games.
Meanwhile, Jordy Nelson is far from the only preseason injury. Dante Fowler was badly injured in training camp. So was Terron Armstead. Edelman tore his ACL in a preseason game. The list goes on.
I get the temptation to draw hard conclusions from this weekend, but don’t let that warp what evidence we have and what’s actually knowable.
Wear & tear injuries for people on rookie deals!? I don’t think so.
Who cares if they’re rookie deals? Barkley has played 31 games as a pro and already has 497 carries and 149 receptions. Plus another 671 carries and 102 receptions in three years of college. Not all rookie contract guys are the same. Barkley has a ton of mileage on him for a 23-year old, especially considering he’s also missed time with multiple different injuries.
Or maybe more glaringly, last year McCaffrey played more than 93% of the Panthers’ offensive stats.
You don’t think guys can have wear and tear on rookie deals? Why do you think most second contracts for running backs work out badly?
Hamler looked just great yesterday, but this is a heavy blow. Denver’s WR room was suddenly dangerous this year with Sutton returning, but now it is more “potential” than “potent”. At this point, Denver will have to use this year to stage its strategy for next year by gaining experience and developing younger players. The rookies at receiver look promising (Jeudy has some work to do in cleaning up his drops), so if Sutton can come back strong next year, Denver will have some options in that area.
Good luck to Sutton. It really is awful that he worked hard to come back from one injury just to sustain another, more serious injury after less than a whole game. He’s one of the game’s best young receivers though, so I’m looking forward to his return.
Repeat after me…. OTAs are not overrated
Good point. It’s not just the lack of preseason games for ramping up from zero to sixty. It’s the “virtual off-season” instead of traditional OTAs.
Bet those guy who opted out of the season are feeing good about now.
Why? The guys who are injured get to sit out the rest of the season AND get their full salary.