Courtland Sutton
Getty
Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton.
The history of the NFL tells us the bolder teams can be in free agency and with trades, the bigger the payoff will be.
We can look at the recent history of Super Bowl champions for all the evidence we need.
The Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl following the 2021 season by making a blockbuster trade for Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.
The Philadelphia Eagles have played in 2 Super Bowls and won 1 following a trade for 3-time NFL All-Pro wide receiver A.J. Brown in 2022.
Heck, even the Seattle Seahawks got called out rolling the dice with a 3-year, $100 million free agent contract for quarterback Sam Darnold before the 2025 season — they rode Darnold’s arm to a Super Bowl win in his 1st season.
The Broncos should take not. Fortune favors the bold, and there couldn’t be a bolder move for the Broncos right now than trading for a superstar wide receiver to compliment 3rd year quarterback Bo Nix in 2026.
Jefferson Could Waste Prime With Lowly Vikings
We no longer think of Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson as the very best of the best only because his team looked at the 3 quarterbacks they had on their roster following the 2024 season — Darnold, Daniel Jones and 2024 1st round pick J.J. McCarthy — and picked the worst one to move forward with.
McCarthy turned out to be a bust — and was almost always injured — and Jefferson saw his numbers dip from 104 receptions for 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2024 catching passes from Darnold to 84 receptions for 1,048 yards and 2 touchdowns while catching passes from the likes of McCarthy, Max Brosmer and Carson Wentz.
With no help in sight for the Vikings, there’s now a real world that exists where Jefferson is forced to waste several years of his prime on terrible teams. Consider the Vikings went 14-3 in 2024 with Darnold and went 9-8 in 2025 without him and never seemed like actual contenders.
What Broncos Should Give Up in Trade for Jefferson
There’s a simple offer for the Vikings that would be hard for them to turn down — their 2026 and 2027 1st round picks and wide receiver Courtland Sutton.
The Broncos signed Sutton to a 4-year, $92 million contract extension before the 2025 season and watched him show why that was probably even an overpay with 74 receptions for 1,017 yards and 7 touchdowns.
The Broncos would get a steal on Jefferson, who signed a record-setting 4-year, $140 million contract extension before the 2024 season. They can pay hi the $25.5 million he’s owned in 2026 then most likely give him another record-setting deal in 2027.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton seems keen to revamp his wide receivers room at almost any cost following a 14-3 regular season and No. 1 overall seed in the AFC Playoffs that ended with a 10-7 home loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
Following the loss to the Patriots, Payton not only publicly lambasted his receivers for not knowing how to properly catch the ball — “you put your thumbs together” — and also fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and wide receivers coach Keary Colbert.