Broncos coach Sean Payton either needs to stop taking Courtland Sutton for granted or part ways with the team’s top receiver, once and for all.

While Denver doesn’t end its agonizingly long playoff drought without the touchdown catch Sutton leapt into the soupy New Jersey sky to grab against the Jets, there’s also the impossible-to-erase sight of Payton chewing out Sutton for fumbling late in the game against Carolina.

After seven seasons in Denver and 379 career catches for 5,340 yards, Sutton has fashioned a far too distinguished career to be a chronic trade rumor.

But here we are, in an offseason that Payton deems essential to the continued growth of the franchise into a championship contender, when the first question the Broncos must answer is this:

Is Sutton part of this team’s core, or is it time for Denver to show him the door?

In pro sports, love and loyalty don’t count for much unless there are dollar signs attached. During recent months, Denver has shown the money to cornerback Pat Surtain II, outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper, right guard Quinn Meinerz and left tackle Garett Bolles.

The Broncos have declared Surtain, Cooper, Meinerz and Bolles as foundational pieces in this team’s rebuild from league laughingstock to legit playoff contender.

Despite his 1,081 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in a season where he was the best friend rookie Bo Nix had in a Denver offensive huddle lacking playmakers, Sutton has been deemed an afterthought.

OK, his $20.2 million salary-cap hit for the upcoming season, the last on Sutton’s current contract, is not exactly chump change.

But all the loose talk of dumping him to make room in the locker room for Cincinnati free agent Tee Higgins, or working a trade for veterans Cooper Kupp or Deebo Samuel, is insulting to Sutton, selected as a captain by teammates four seasons in a row.

For the second offseason in a row, Sutton and Broncos management seem headed toward an uncomfortable argument about his real worth to the team.

Sutton will never be the best wide receiver in Broncos history.

But as he climbs the statistical ranks in the team record book, Sutton is almost certainly the most underappreciated.

The top two wideouts to wear a Denver uniform are Rod Smith and Demaryius Thomas. There’s nothing Sutton can do to change those rankings, even if he hoisted the Lombardi Trophy with the Broncos.

But as somebody who has been an eyewitness to all the big catches and regrettable drops in the Denver passing game for going on five decades, Sutton is as dangerous to opposing defenses as Steve Watson or Ed McCaffrey ever were.

Both the Blade and Eddie Mac, however, are more beloved in the Broncos Country than Sutton, constantly questioned as something less than a truly elite No. 1 receiver.

For a Denver team that is more than one player away from a deep playoff run to next year’s Super Bowl, it makes zero sense to break the bank to the tune of $30 million per season for Higgins, who has benefited greatly from playing alongside Ja’Marr Chase in Cincinnati, or squeezing whatever juice remains in Kupp, soon to be 32 years old in a young man’s game.

Denver doesn’t need to replace Sutton, general manager George Paton needs to get young help for him and Nix.

While Broncos Country dreams about the team trading up in the first round for Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty or Penn State tight end Tyler Warren, I’m more pragmatic.

With the 20th overall pick, I’m partial to the idea of pairing two-time all-Southeastern Conference receiver Luther Burden III out of Missouri with Sutton, then see how the secondary opens up for both of them. While Denver’s running backs room certainly could use help, I’d bet on the the upside of Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson and watch him develop into Aaron Jones, who has rushed for more than 7,000 yards and caught passes for nearly 2,500 yards in eight pro seasons.

Rather than taking Sutton for granted, the Broncos should offer him a three-year extension in the range of $60-65 million.

It’s the love that Sutton has earned.