Practice is finished and as most of the Bronco players hit the showers, Sutton stays after for a few extra minutes of receiver work. He'll catch balls from the Jugs machine, work on his get-off techniques.

ENGLEWOOD – About once a week if not more, Courtland Sutton has been a stay-after-school guy.

Practice is finished and as most of the Bronco players hit the showers, Sutton stays after for a few extra minutes of receiver work. He’ll catch balls from the Jugs machine, work on his get-off techniques.

Forgotten sometimes is when a student stays after for a little extra, a teacher must put in a little more work, too. Demaryius Thomas was often one of those student-teachers who would stay after to help Sutton with his transition from college star to professional rookie.

“I heard a lot of things about how vets don’t really want to teach young guys all their techniques because they feel like it’s helping the young guy get ready to take their spot,’’ Sutton said in a sit-down interview with 9News this week. “But I never felt that from him. If I asked him a question he was always willing to help me understand how best to go about it.’’

Perhaps, D.T. should have been a little more reticent with his craft. He was traded Tuesday to the Houston Texans in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick and to clear a developmental path for Sutton. Sutton had been playing almost as much as Thomas – about 3.5 less snaps a game. But Thomas had the second-most catches with 36 through eight games while Sutton was fifth with 17.

With Sutton averaging a team-best 19.2 yards per catch to 11.2 yard for Thomas, the Broncos are hoping to get a little more bang from their snags in the second-half of their season.

“We thought that this would give Courtland a chance to get out there, play more and become a bigger part of it because we think he’s ready to go,’’ general manager John Elway said following the Thomas’ trade. “He’s played well up to this point in time. Hopefully, this accelerates his maturity.”

Now that the Broncos has provided him with the No. 2 receiver spot behind Emmanuel Sanders, Sutton must expand his game. He’s been terrific on the one-on-one, 50-50, jump balls deep down the sideline.

But there is more to it, and this is where Thomas came in with his after-practice tutelage.

“My routes,’’ Sutton said when asked what D.T. worked with him the most. “Being able to run more than just the deep ball. I know a lot of people who watch the games probably think that’s all I run but in working with Demaryius I’ve been able to add so many more routes to my tree. And routes I feel comfortable running, knowing I can get open if we’re running it.

“It’s definitely about being precise,’’ he continued. “The little things. People don’t really notice it, just being able to get your feet in the right spot when you’re going to make a cut and to make all the routes look the same. You never want to give a tell. Playing in such a competitive league, everybody is the top of the top at what they’re doing. So, you have to be very deliberate on what you’re doing and what you’re giving away and what you’re not giving away so making all the routes look the same is one thing I really worked on. I feel like it’s really key with adding those intermediate routes and not just the ‘go’ ball.’’

Not there’s any wrong with being proficient with the ‘go’ route. Sutton was quite the basketball player growing up to the point he got a dual athletic scholarship to play football and basketball at Southern Methodist. A novice football scout could have guessed as Sutton goes up to snare some of Case Keenum deep throws.

For this particular route, the two sports go together.

“Oh, 100 percent,’’ Sutton said. “Being able to get rebounds at the highest point, knowing where guys are at your back, being able to feel their leverage, all those things, playing basketball helped me tremendously with the 50-50 balls in football.’’

Sutton was recruited to SMU by June Jones in football and Larry Brown in basketball. Jones coached the Denver Gold of the United Stated Football League in 1985 and one of Brown’s 15 coaching stops was with the ABA-NBA Denver Nuggets from 1974-79.

“Coach Brown is not only a great coach, but a great mentor,’’ Sutton said. “Somebody that I still look up to this day. He taught me so many things off the court on how to become a better person and then translate that over to my football game and being able to be a great leader for the team. … He kind of molded my leadership style and how I carried myself on and off the field for my team.’’

Sutton only played three games for the SMU basketball team before he decided to concentrate on football. After averaging 64 catches, 1,064 yards and 10 touchdowns in his final three seasons for Chad Morris at SMU, Sutton entered the 2018 draft with just about every mockster projected him going … ?

“To Dallas,’’ he said.

His home-state Dallas Cowboys with their No. 19 overall pick in the first round. Instead, the Cowboys selected linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. Sutton went to bed after Day 1 of the draft without his name getting called. He didn’t wait long on Day 2 as the Broncos took him with their No. 40 overall selection in the second round. But was Sutton disappointed when he heard the Cowboys’ selection wasn’t him?

“Initially, I was,’’ he said. “But having such a strong faith and family, everybody that was surrounding me there kind of let me know where I’m supposed to go and every decision that happens in my life is for a reason. And I can’t second guess what God puts in my life and I’m happy and blessed to be in Denver.

“I feel like I landed in a better situation, better spot. This organization is amazing. To have such great people here that help not only off the field, but they want to make sure that we’re succeeding off the field as well.’’

Here’s something he’s getting with the Broncos: An opportunity to run through the tunnel for offensive starter introductions in Game 9 against the Texans. It is the offense’s turn to take the starting lineup run and Sutton said he’s been thinking about how he should move through.

In a strange twist, Thomas will be watching from the other sideline as the Broncos play the Texans today at Broncos Stadium at Mile High.

“My initial reaction, I was pretty sad to see him go because he was a real close friend to me,’’ said Sutton, who has talked to Thomas and exchanged texts since the trade. “Almost like a big brother to me once I got here. One of the first people who reached out to me after I got drafted. A guy who mentored me up, showed me everything he had learned.