Courtland Sutton studying Michael Thomas’ 2019 season to ‘figure out ways to get open’

The Denver Broncos offensive is going to look at a lot different in 2023 compared to 2022 despite having mostly the same personnel returning to the offense. The obvious factor there is Sean Payton implementing his new offense.

This week we learned from Courtland Sutton that he was given tape of the targets New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas received during his record-breaking 2019 season.

“It’s interesting, I actual just got — not too long ago, maybe a week or two ago — I just got Michael Thomas’ 2019 targets from his year that he broke the record,” Sutton said via the team website. “[I’m] just diving into it [to] be able to see how he may have run a route that we are learning right now. Figuring out ways to get open.”

Thomas was the most dominant wide receiver in the NFL that season with 185 targets. He caught 149 of those targets for 1,725 yards and nine touchdowns. Sutton has come nowhere near that kind of production. His best season was his second season in 2019 when he had 124 targets, but only caught 72 of them for 1,112 yards and six touchdowns.

Of course, Thomas was catching balls from future Hall of Famer Drew Brees, however, getting open was the key to Thomas’ success that season. If Sutton can find ways to get open, then he could bounce back in a big way in 2023.

What do you think? Let’s discuss in the comments section below.