{"id":272659,"date":"2025-08-08T21:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T21:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/272659\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T21:45:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T21:45:16","slug":"broncos-rumors-sutton-rbs-henningsen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/272659\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos Rumors: Sutton, RBs, Henningsen"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Broncos resolved two contract matters recently, extending Courtland Sutton<\/a> and Zach Allen<\/a>. While the All-Pro defensive lineman landed a deal that ranks him third at his position in terms of per-year value<\/a>, the steady wide receiver accepted a lesser pact.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sutton\u2019s four-year, $92MM extension<\/a> places him 18th among wideouts in AAV. That $23MM number slides alongside Calvin Ridley<\/a>\u2018s free agency deal and just behind Michael Pittman Jr.<\/a>\u2018s 2024 terms. The contract includes $41MM in total guarantees. All but $1MM of the latter figure checks in guaranteed at signing. The additional $1MM covers an injury guarantee in 2027, 9News\u2019 Mike Klis notes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Sutton Left Money On Table During Extension Talks]<\/a><\/p>\n

That $1MM will shift from an injury guarantee to a full guarantee on Day 5 of the 2027 league year, Pro Football Talk\u2019s Mike Florio adds<\/a>. The Broncos used option bonuses to keep Sutton\u2019s cap hits low. Both his 2025 and \u201926 cap figures check in south of $14MM. In 2027, that number spikes to $28.48MM, per OverTheCap. The Broncos would be hit with $15.85MM in dead money if they released Sutton in 2027. In 2028, that number lowers to a more manageable $9.78MM. Still, the contract\u2019s guarantees \u2014 for the most part \u2014 will pay out by the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

No rolling guarantee structure is present, giving the Broncos flexibility with a receiver who will turn 30 in October. Sutton has been Denver\u2019s top wideout over the past two seasons, meshing better in Sean Payton\u2018s system compared to Jerry Jeudy<\/a>. With questions covering the rest of the Broncos\u2019 WR corps, Sutton will again be positioned as Bo Nix<\/a>\u2018s top target this season.<\/p>\n

While Denver did not add a surefire starter to accompany Sutton at receiver this offseason, the team overhauled its backfield by using a second-round pick on R.J. Harvey<\/a> and signing J.K. Dobbins<\/a> to likely work as a short-term starter. This Mark Ingram\u2013Alvin Kamara<\/a>-like setup \u2014 that appears the goal here, at least \u2014 leaves incumbents vying for jobs. Former UDFA Jaleel McLaughlin<\/a> has appeared the favorite to land the RB3 role as a change-of-pace option, but he may not be a roster lock just yet.<\/p>\n

The Broncos used Tyler Badie<\/a> in key portions of their joint practice with the 49ers, per Klis<\/a>, who points to the Missouri alum being ahead of 2024 fifth-round pick Audric Estime<\/a>. Although Badie played in front of McLaughlin in the joint workout, the Denver Post\u2019s Parker Gabriel lists<\/a> the third-year player as the most consistent option for the RB3 role leading up to the Broncos\u2019 preseason opener.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>McLaughlin has been steady as a change-of-pace option, as the NCAA all-divisions rushing leader has 570- and 572-yard seasons (from scrimmage) during his first two years. A 2022 sixth-round Ravens draftee, Badie has only taken 12 career handoffs. A back injury shelved Badie for much of last season<\/a>, but the Broncos both saved an IR activation for him and deemed Estime a healthy scratch in their wild-card game. Estime fumbled twice last season but was the team\u2019s third-leading RB rusher (Nix was third on the team) with 310 yards. Three years remain on his rookie deal, but the Broncos would barely take on $250K by cutting the big back.<\/p>\n

Shifting to defense, a key backup on Denver\u2019s D-line from 2022-23 \u2014 Matt Henningsen<\/a> \u2014 may lose a full season due to injury. The Broncos fear Henningsen suffered an Achilles tear during their joint practice with the 49ers, Klis reports<\/a>. The injury occurred during a one-on-one drill.<\/p>\n

Although the former sixth-round pick has never started a game, he was a key backup from 2022-23 \u2014 before spending last year mostly on the practice squad. The Broncos have a fairly clear top five up front \u2014 Allen, D.J. Jones<\/a>, John Franklin-Myers<\/a>, Malcolm Roach<\/a>, third-round rookie Sai\u2019Vion Jones<\/a> \u2014 and Gabriel pegs Jordan Jackson<\/a> and Eyioma Uwazurike<\/a> as vying for a roster spot. Uwazurike is best known for his involvement in an Iowa State gambling investigation, leading to a full-season 2023 ban, while Jackson is a former Saints sixth-rounder who played 17 Broncos games last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Broncos resolved two contract matters recently, extending Courtland Sutton and Zach Allen. While the All-Pro defensive lineman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[1268,232,1270,231,258,2426,3888,7,1273,3879,3874,6,1276],"class_list":{"0":"post-272659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-audric-estime","9":"tag-broncos","10":"tag-courtland-sutton","11":"tag-denver","12":"tag-denver-broncos","13":"tag-denverbroncos","14":"tag-eyioma-uwazurike","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-jaleel-mclaughlin","17":"tag-jordan-jackson","18":"tag-matt-henningsen","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-tyler-badie"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114995339327464474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}