Courtland Sutton Shares Advice on How Jerry Jeudy & KJ Hamler can Take Similar Year 2 Jump
Courtland Sutton quickly became a starter for the Denver Broncos as a rookie in 2018. By midseason, the team was so confident in Sutton's emergence that it felt comfortable trading away its second all-time leading wideout Demaryius Thomas at mid-season.
Down the stretch of Sutton's rookie year, veteran Emmanuel Sanders suffered an injury and from there, the new kid from SMU had to do the heavy lifting for the Broncos' offense. Honestly, Sutton's last few games in 2018 were hit and miss.
But in Year 2, after Sanders had been traded away and Sutton had the room to grow into being the No. 1 wideout, he did it with gusto. Catching passes from three different quarterbacks, Sutton finished 2019 with 72 receptions for 1,112 yards and six touchdowns.
Sutton's Year 2 body of work earned him his first Pro Bowl nod. Then, tragedy struck the 6-foot-4 wideout as he suffered a torn ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 season.
That created room for rookies Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler to grow and be exposed to NFL defenses and speed. Much like Sutton's rookie campaign, the results were mixed for Jeudy and Hamler as every young pro has to endure his own unique trial-and-error learning curve.
The question on the mind of fans (and probably the team) is this: how can the Broncos microwave Jeudy and Hamler's development to see a similar Year 2 quantum leap as Sutton had? Courtland, who seems to be ahead of schedule on his ACL recovery, has some ideas on the subject and it starts with the battle that is waged between the ears.
"I would say the biggest thing for me that clicked was understanding defenses and understanding concepts of the offense and why we're doing things," Sutton said Tuesday following the Broncos' second day of OTA practices. "Why do I need to be here at this time? What read am I on this play? Understanding how defenses are going to move, understanding how fast defenses are going to play, understanding what you’re going to get on third-and-long, understanding what kind of defense you're going to get in two-minute.'
So much of a young receiver's learning curve comes down to understanding and assimilating the system. The classroom and practice field can only get a guy so far in that department. The balance has to be bridged in live-bullet situations.
"All these different things are things that you don’t really get to until the bullets are flying in game-time reps," Sutton said. "Those dudes have been able to get all those reps throughout the season and it's going to help them even more to book it in their mind for this upcoming season. Now, when they see something that's similar, they'll say, 'Oh, I remember this. This is how I can move differently to be able to get open, or this is how I can do this differently.' I think being able to have that year underneath you definitely helps with just the understanding of how the game flows."
Having consistent and competent quarterback play will surely help if either Jeudy or Hamler are going to turn a big corner in Year 2. Drew Lock seems like a man on a mission but he'll have to fend off the veteran Teddy Bridgewater in order to earn the privilege of being the triggerman of the Broncos' offense.
Still, if Sutton could do what he did in Year 2 by catching passes from a severely diminished Joe Flacco, an in-over-his-head Brandon Allen, and a fresh-out-of-the-box Lock, perhaps Jeudy and Hamler can manage quite well, regardless of who wins the QB battle at Dove Valley this summer.
Regardless of who wins, that QB will have an arsenal of receiving weapons teeming with talent. Star rush linebacker Von Miller — who fancies himself a QB — is very bullish on the young skill-position talent the Broncos will field in 2021.
"They’ve got a lot of weapons there," Miller said on Monday. "They’ve got [TE] Noah Fant, Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, and all of those guys."
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