Courtland Sutton Fantasy Breakout Quietly Taking Place Early in 2019 NFL Season

In a year where several wide receivers are experiencing breakout seasons, including fantasy football's top-ranked WR Chris Godwin, one player who has seemingly flown under the radar is the Denver Broncos' Courtland Sutton.

The second-year wideout is quietly a WR1 in both standard scoring and PPR leagues, having already compiled 30 catches (on 46 targets) for 477 yards and three touchdowns, heading into the Broncos' Week 7 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football.

Courtland Sutton quietly enjoying a 2nd-year breakout ...

Ranks among WRs:

15th in targets
17th in catches
7th in yards
14th in TDs
12th in PPR and non-PPR points

8th in yards per route run
9th in @PFF receiving grade
— Jared Smola (@SmolaDS) October 15, 2019

While Sutton sports a gaudy 16.4 yards per reception so far in his NFL career, he has made two notable improvements during his second season. For starters, he has been way more efficient with Joe Flacco at quarterback, catching 65.2 percent of his targets as opposed to 50 percent last season. He is also doing more with the ball in his hands, as his yards after the catch (YAC) average has improved from 3.9 to 5.3.

Sutton's playmaking after the catch has aided his ability to rack up yardage, as he is third in total air yards (505) and eighth in total YAC (163). He leads the Broncos in target share (23 percent, four percent more than teammate Emmanuel Sanders) and has the 20th highest target share among all NFL receivers.

"He is a legit No. 1 wide receiver, so I trust him to do whatever we ask him to do," #Broncos QB Joe Flacco said of WR Courtland Sutton ? https://t.co/PeoOqqxGZh
— Broncos Wire (@TheBroncosWire) October 16, 2019

Courtland Sutton Fantasy 2019

Sitting as WR12 in PPR leagues, Sutton has scored at least eight fantasy points every week this season. He topped out in Week 4 with six catches for 62 yards and two touchdowns against the Jaguars, totaling 24.2 PPR fantasy points.

This week, he ranks 19th among WRs in our Week 7 PPR fantasy football rankings with a positive matchup against the Chiefs. Sutton also gets those same Chiefs (Week 15) as well as the Houston Texans (Week 14) during the fantasy playoffs – both plus-fantasy plays down the stretch. He's clearly Flacco's No. 1 option in the passing game, making him a borderline WR1 for the rest of the season.

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