Courtland Sutton
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Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton.
In the history of unusual NFL trades, the deal the Denver Broncos pulled off to get head coach Sean Payton from the New Orleans Saints in January 2023 is right up there.
The Broncos swapped their 2023 1st round pick and 2024 2nd round pick for Payton and a 2024 3rd round pick in a deal that, looking back now, seems like the Broncos clearly came out as the clear winner.
Three years later the Saints are still among the NFL’s worst teams and the Broncos have gone from being one of the NFL’s worst teams to one of its best and are a legitimate Super Bowl contender headed into Payton’s 4th season in 2026.
Now, if the Broncos want to be bold, there’s an opportunity to get over on the Saints again in similar fashion by ridding themselves of one of the NFL’s most overrated wide receivers in Courtland Sutton in exchange for arguably the NFL’s most underrated player and one of its best wide receivers in Chris Olave.
Spendthrift Saints Won’t Want to Pay Olave
The Saints are in a tough spot with Olave, who is coming off his first NFL All-Pro season in 2025 and is set up for his 1st massive payday after 3 seasons of over 1,000 receiving yards in his first 4 seasons. It’s worth pointing out that it would have been 4 seasons with 1,000 yards had it not been for the Saints trying to get him murdered on the field catching passes from the starting quarterback trio of Derek Carr, Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener in 2024.
It’s a tough spot because the Saints may have taken over the title of “NFL’s Cheapest Team” from the Los Angeles Chargers and will be loath to pay Olave what he’s worth — something Spotrac estimates is in the range of a 4-year, $131.8 million contract extension, which would pay him $33 million per season. It would make Olave the 4th highest paid wide receiver in the NFL.
Olave bounced back from serious concussion issues in 2024, which cost him 9 games, to career highs across the board in 2025 on the way to earning NFL All-Pro honors — 100 receptions for 1,162 yards and 9 touchdowns.
Conversely, the Broncos might be the 1 team most ready to spend money right now in a big way. Trading for Olave and making sure that the moment the deal goes through, he gets his long-term extension might be the difference in winning a Super Bowl.
Sean Payton Seems Fed Up With Wide Receivers
Payton seemed disgusted with his wide receivers after a 10-7 home loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. While Sutton scored the Broncos’ lone touchdown, his stats in 2 playoff games — 7 receptions for 70 yards — leave a lot to be desired. That included 3 receptions for 17 yards in the loss to the Patriots.
While it was Payton’s decision not to kick a short field goal to go up 10-0 in the 1st half, which ended up being the difference, it’s important to remember this is not someone who wants to take too much blame. NFL head coaches are egomaniacs. If there’s an easy target — like an underperforming position group — it’s toast.
Payton not only fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi after the loss, but he also fired wide receivers coach Keary Colbert.
“I’m going to look at it and be critical of myself, and I think there were a number of things that we just had to do better,” Payton said after the game. “We didn’t finish some runs, and we dropped some passes. Again, felt like that was a problem all year.”
Sutton, who has consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons in 2024 and 2025, signed a 4-year, $92 million contract extension before the 2025 season.