Fantasy Football Managers Must Worry About Courtland Sutton's Depth Chart Woes
In this story:
Courtland Sutton is coming off of his second straight game with 30 yards or less. This is the third time over the last five games that this has happened. The output has not been what many Fantasy Football managers have expected, meanwhile Troy Franklin eats a steak dinner on the other side. It is time to reevaluate Sutton and figure out where his future value lies a month prior to playoff season.
2025 Stats: Courtland Sutton
10 Games Played, 65 Targets, 41 Receptions, 590 Yards, 4 Touchdowns
Courtland Sutton has scored single-digit fantasy points in back-to-back weeks.
— Underdog (@Underdog) November 6, 2025
It's the first time that has happened since Weeks 1 and 2 of last season. pic.twitter.com/CqQYhCBVC9
In PPR formats, Sutton stands as the WR16 in Fantasy Football. This is not awful, but it is frontloaded. Sutton had three touchdowns over his first four weeks and only has one since then. In PPR, Sutton has 8.7 Fantasy Points per Game over his last five.
Why the Recent Struggles?
This offense has shifted in its target share. Over the course of the season, Franklin leads the Broncos in targets (70), five more than Sutton. He also leads Sutton by (1) total reception a 5-to-4 Touchdowns. If we break this down to preseason expectation, we could tell another story.
Target share over the past month:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 10, 2025
27% - Troy Franklin
19% - Courtland Sutton
Air yardage share past month:
47% - Franklin
27% - Sutton
PPR points per game past month:
15.8 - Franklin
10.7 - Sutton
Franklin was drafted as the WR88. This would imply him to be a wide receiver over 20-30 Yards per Game and 2-4 Total Touchdowns. That is a broad estimate, but along the right lines.
Franklin is performing about 20 Yards and 0.5 Touchdowns per Game over Expectation. If most of this allocated to Sutton, he would be touching Top-10 Wide Receiver status in Fantasy Football.
The causes from the downtick are solely to do with Franklin. Other than that, Bo Nix could upgrade from his 206 Yards per Game.
Rest-of-Season Outlook
Sutton has a 21% Target Share right now. Naturally, he would rise rather than fall in value. I would expect that defenses will start to catch on to Franklin. He will get clamped down more easily, especially in tougher defensive matchups versus the Chiefs (Twice), Packers, and Jaguars.
Sutton is likely to see a minor upgrade in his statistics. He can rise back towards 25% of a Target Share and 60+ Yards per Game. It will be risky to expect more, but his ceiling is still high. Franklin is playing as best as he possibly can. Sutton cannot fall even further.
It is to be remembered that Sutton was drafted as the WR22 and he is the current WR16. Should he get back to his September form, we are back where we expected to be at.
Courtland Sutton is a High-End WR2 with WR1 upside.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.