'The potential is there': As Broncos' offense learns new scheme virtually, Courtland Sutton foresees future success

[Miles]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. —After a 2019 season in which the Broncos averaged just north of 17 points per game and ranked near the bottom of the league in nearly every statistical category, an uptick in production could be on its way.


That's due in part to Drew Lock's progression, in part because of the existing talent in Courtland Sutton, Noah Fant, Phillip Lindsay and Co. and in part because of offseason additions that include Melvin Gordon III, Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler.


But there's another addition, too: a dynamic offensive system courtesy of Pat Shurmur.


Sutton said Thursday he believes that system will empower Denver's offensive core — and that the points will follow.


"The thing I like about Coach Shurmur's offense is he wants to give us chances to go make plays," Sutton said. "He's going to give the receivers chances to make plays. He [sees] — which is really rare I feel like — he sees the game how receivers see that game. We feel like we can impact the game in so many different ways. Obviously in the run game, but in the pass game we can have screens [or take] shots down the field. [That's] him giving the flexibility to be able to, if he sees a mismatch, take advantage of that and not say 'Oh, we'll come back to that next series,' or something like that. If he sees a mismatch or something that he can take advantage of, something that he can do, … they're giving him the freedom to be able to do that. I think that's going to be something that is huge for us as an offense growing because if we get into a situation where Drew and everyone else in the offense gets comfortable with the offense, then we know what we're supposed to do. Then it becomes pretty much an unguardable situation to where Coach Shurmur is obviously going to call the best play for us to go and be successful.


"Drew understanding the offense and the rest of the guys on the offense understanding the offense to [the fullest], we can run any type of check that we need to be able to get the ball to the right spot for the defense that we're going against. I think that Coach Shurmur's offense is going to be able to add a lot of threat to all the weapons that we already have on offense."


The Broncos will try to implement that offense despite being apart during the early phases of the voluntary offseason program. Should instruction remain virtual for the rest of the offseason program, that would force the Broncos and teams across the league to miss out on valuable reps.


"It's what you guys would expect that you'd miss," Sutton said. "You miss the huddle calls. You miss being able to hear Drew call out a play in the huddle, us break[ing] the huddle and lining up and [getting] ready to play. That's something that's so underrated. I think people see us at games and it looks so smooth, but that's over time of practice before you even get to camp. When you start adding this time into is, the OTAs that we're not getting, those reps that we're not getting, those are reps that are quality. I think one of our coaches said something about last year we ran 300-and-something plays in OTAs. That's 300 reps that you don't have right now, that we don't get in terms of getting in the huddle, hearing the whole play call, lining up and going and running whether that's verse the defense or not. Being able to do that part as an offense is so huge."