ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Sean Payton said Tuesday that he expects wide receiver Courtland Sutton to attend next week's minicamp after skipping the Denver Broncos' entire offseason program.

"Yeah, I think he'll be at minicamp. I mean, it's mandatory,” Payton said. “I just know his work ethic. I know the player and ... I think that'll work itself out. So, I think he'll be here, yeah. But I don't know that for sure.”

Sutton is due $13 million next season and $13.5 million in 2025, salaries he ostensibly views as inadequate given both his production last season when he caught a career-best 10 touchdowns and the explosion in salaries for wide receivers of late.

“Well, it's not that he doesn't like our new uniforms,” Payton said when asked to verify that Sutton's beef was over money.

Sutton caught 59 passes for 772 yards last season, not that far off the numbers he put up in his previous two seasons (58 catches for 776 yards in 2021 and 64 receptions for 829 yards in 2022).

But he only had two TDs in each of those seasons and 14 overall in his career before catching 10 touchdown passes last season, which was the fourth-most in the NFL.

That marked his best productivity since 2019, when he caught 72 passes for 1,112 yards and six TDs and made his only career Pro Bowl berth. He blew out a knee in the 2020 opener and missed the remainder of that season.

Sutton, who's entering his seventh season in the NFL, saw former teammate Jerry Jeudy sign a three-year, $52.5 million deal with the Cleveland Browns following his trade from the Broncos this spring after putting up numbers similar to Sutton's since 2021.

Sutton faces fines totaling $101,716 if he skips the Broncos' three-day minicamp that begins next Tuesday.

“And don't come away from this with ‘He's threatening to fine,'” Sutton, Payton said. "It's just the mandatory part of the offseason is the minicamp and then training camp's mandatory and there we go.”

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