Where is the Courtland Sutton jump ball? The answer could provide clarity on the offensive struggles

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Remember Training Camp 2018? Or as some may call it, the Courtland Sutton show?

Every. Single. Day. Sutton was eating somebody’s lunch on the field. From Tramaine Brock to Chris Harris Jr. and, most of all, Bradley Roby, the rookie receiver was making more posters than a kid with a lost dog.

All the big plays had the hype train rolling at out-of-control speeds, but when the season started, Sutton didn’t live up to the high expectations.

Sure, there were big plays out there, and in the end, he finished the season with numbers that were very solid for a rookie, but the guy who dominated camp on a daily basis wasn’t out there.

Additionally, when injuries thrust Sutton into the No. 1 receiver role, he was nowhere to be found.

When we came into camp, the hope that Sutton would bring back the acrobatic catches from last year in addition to a complete route tree.

Through seven practices, though, Sutton has caught a grand total of zero jump balls. Not one. In fact, he’s only had one opportunity, and that ball was thrown out of the back of the endzone.

What’s up with that?

“I think practice is structured a little bit different,” Sutton said on Wednesday afternoon. “Different head coach. Coach Fangio is attacking practice in a different way… Right now, coach knows that’s something that I have in my arsenal. It’s like, ‘Why keep beating that horse? Add something to the game; don’t just be a one-trick pony.’ That was something I did a lot last camp. But that was last camp. We’re moving onto this year and being able to bring new things into the game, so it’s not just being a one-trick pony.”

You always know a player is listening to his coach when they both use the exact same phrase.

“A common mistake players and coaches can make is just keep practicing what a guy does well,” Fangio said of why they arent feeding Sutton a healthy diet of jump balls. “You have to keep what you do well oiled up and always ready to go, but you have to become more of a complete player, you don’t want to be a one-trick pony. We’re trying to get him to expand his route tree, expand how he’s getting the ball and see if we can improve him in that way.”

Whadya know, another Vic Fangio idea that makes a whole lot of sense. With Emmanuel Sanders on the sideline, the Broncos are forcing Sutton to make plays in the middle of the field, not just up in the air and on the sideline.

“I appreciate Coach Rich [Scangarello] giving me those opportunities to go out there and fine-tune my craft,” Sutton said. “To be able to show that I can run all those intermediate routes and get those first downs, keep the chains moving. Without it just being a deep post, deep go, or something like that.”

So far, while it hasn’t been perfect, Sutton has made quite a few more plays in those intermediate areas.

But this strategy from Vic Fangio brings up an interesting question—is a focus on tuning up players weaknesses one of the reasons that the Broncos offense is struggling so much?

On top of the lack of jump balls for Sutton, since Day 1 of camp, we’ve barely seen any designed outside runs for Phillip Lindsay, and while some of it has to do with the offensive line, we’ve yet to see Flacco really air it out at all.

What we know is that the Broncos offense will be at it’s best when all those things are involved, but maybe, in the end, they’ll be better off for the early camp struggles when their dull edges were sharpened up.

As Fangio said, though, they’ll eventually have to oil up those strengths. It will be interesting to see at what point in camp they unleash the full arsenal.