The Lead
There's no doubt about it — the Broncos' future is certainly bright.
Out of several of the Broncos' talented corps of young players, Around the NFL writer Marc Sessler picked Courtland Sutton as one of the league's rising stars on his All-Under-25 Team for NFL.com.
"The future at receiver appears bright with A.J. Brown, D.J. Moore, Terry McLaurin and D.K. Metcalf in the mix," Sessler wrote. "I'll take the underrated Sutton over all of them after seeing him thrive as a bona fide No. 1 option in a Denver offense that suddenly looks spicy. With Emmanuel Sanders traded at midseason, the sophomore Sutton spent many Sundays tangling with top-flight cover men, yet still racked up 1,112 yards and six touchdowns on 72 catches."
Bradley Chubb earned a mention as well, but lost out to fellow edge rushers Nick Bosa and Myles Garrett.
After Sutton turns 25 in October, he will no longer be eligible for this distinction, but candidates for next year's list from the Broncos could include Drew Lock (currently 23 years old), Chubb (23), Noah Fant (22) and Jerry Jeudy (21).
Below the Fold
If Phillip Lindsay were just a year younger, he'd probably be considered for the above list. Sessler's colleague Nick Shook ranked Lindsay as the sixth-most-explosive runner in the NFL. "Were opponents trained on Lindsay? Sure, but he still racked up 48 runs of 15-plus mph in 2019, an enduring indicator of his explosiveness, even amid less-than-ideal circumstances," Shook wrote.
NFL.com's Judy Battista, Jeffri Chadiha, Michael Silver and Jim Trotter also focused on the young guns on Wednesday during a roundtable discussion about which players might make the biggest Year 2 jump. After selecting Drew Lock, Chadiha wrote, "The Broncos already had a budding Pro Bowl talent in wide receiver Courtland Sutton. They also had a running back who's opened his career with two 1,000-yard rushing seasons (Phillip Lindsay) and a speedy tight end who was their first-round selection last year (Noah Fant). But then Elway spent this offseason acquiring running back Melvin Gordon and two more dynamic wide receivers in rookies Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler? Come on, man!"
As league decision-makers prepare to evaluate new rules proposals during Thursday's virtual league meeting, they will no longer be tasked considering the possibility of adding a booth umpire or a senior technology advisor to the officiating crew. Each of the two proposals for those ideas have been withdrawn, as NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Wednesday. The proposal to add the option to attempt a fourth-and-15 play instead of an onside kick is still under consideration.
