Courtland Sutton Fantasy Football Outlook 2022 (Can He Be a 1,000-Yard Player Again?)

Courtland Sutton's stock reached new heights in 2019 thanks to a Pro Bowl campaign. Unfortunately, a season-ending ACL tear in the following season stopped his momentum and he just didn't look the same last year, finishing as the WR44 in PPR fantasy formats.

Now, aspiring fantasy managers hope that Russell Wilson's arrival will have a positive impact on Sutton. He'll be the best quarterback that the 26-year-old has ever played with, leaving time to tell if it'll help Sutton return to his 1,000-yard form.

Courtland Sutton Fantasy Football Outlook

While Sutton wasn't necessarily bad last year, his final stats were far from eye-popping. He finished his fourth NFL campaign with 58 receptions on 98 targets, converting them into 776 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Each of those statistics was noticeably down from his last full campaign in 2019.

As mentioned before, Wilson is an upgrade over past Broncos QBs like Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater. Having said that, he still has other mouths to feed in Denver's offense, such as Jerry Jeudy and even the returning K.J. Hamler.

Though Wilson is capable of spreading the ball, that doesn't mean that Sutton's fantasy future is bright. He's talented, but this isn't three years ago when he and Noah Fant were the Broncos' only viable pass-catching options. Tim Patrick's season-ending injury does provide a likely increase in targets, although rookie Montrell Washington may compete for those open touches.

Sutton is going to have to work hard early to establish a connection with Wilson. If he fails to do so, it's hard imagining him as more than a WR3 in fantasy leagues.

Courtland Sutton Projections

Projections from the NFL odds on FanDuel Sportsbook aren't anything special as far as Sutton is concerned. For example, he's listed at +5000 to be the 2022 NFL receiving yards leader, putting him in a nine-way tie for the 26th-best odds. He's also available at +6000 (T-No. 32) to be the receiving TDs leader.

Having said that, it seems like FanDuel is expecting somewhat of a bounce-back performance for the former SMU product. Sutton's projected receiving yards total is listed at 925.5 with -112 odds on both the over and under.

Last year, Sutton averaged a career-worst 13.4 yards per reception. Assuming that trend continues, he'd need to see about 69 receptions to finish with the over — 11 more catches than he saw last year despite posting a career-best 59.2% catch rating.

Is Courtland Sutton a Good Fantasy Football Pick?

I think Sutton is a talented player, but Denver's crowded offense certainly taints his fantasy upside. While Wilson's presence could boost his stats, the fact that he finished with 6.8 or fewer PPR points in all but two games last season is alarming.

As it stands, Fantasy Pros lists Sutton as the WR27 in PPR formats with an average draft position of 68.3. In 12-team leagues, that means that he's expected to be off the board before the end of the fifth round. He's also listed at WR32 on The Duel's preseason fantasy football rankings for PPR leagues.

If you're drafting Sutton as a WR3/4, I don't really have much of an issue with that. However, expecting anything more from him might be asking for too much. Don't forget to check out the best Denver Broncos fantasy football team names for the season, if you're thinking about drafting Sutton.

New users earn an instant FREE entry when you sign up for FanDuel DFS! Sign Up Now!

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.