At the desk that day was former NFL receiver Steve Smith, who was on air for the pregame show. The five-time Pro Bowl selection had criticized Jeudy’s play before the season on his podcast, referring to him as “JAG,” short for “just a guy,” a term used to refer to an average player. Having heard Smith’s criticism that summer, Jeudy, pacing back and forth on the field behind, shouted in Smith’s direction several times, prompting Smith to double down on his assessment of Jeudy on the air.
“I’m sorry I said you were a JAG, just a guy who’s an average wide receiver that they used a first-round pick on and he’s not doing anything,” Smith said. “I hope today you really show up in a way that you haven’t in the last two years since they drafted you… Sorry to say you’re an average wide receiver that they would eventually move on (from).
“And when teams call me and ask if they should trade for you, I’ll say, ‘No,’ don’t trade for Jerry Jeudy, because he’s mentally incapable of handling constructive criticism… He can be a wide receiver. He’s a Level 3 ”
Jeudy finished the season with the second-fewest receiving yards of his career (758) and the Broncos traded him, as Smith speculated, to the Cleveland Browns for a 2024 fifth- and sixth-round pick in March after Jeudy asked out. from Denver.
In his fifth season, Jeudy is still working to be more than “just a guy” and live up to the potential that made him the No. 15 overall pick in the 2020 draft. He was a top recruit in Southern Florida when he signed with Alabama, where he won the 2018 Biletnikoff Award playing alongside three other future first-round receivers (DeVonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle and Henry Ruggs) with the Crimson Tide.
But in the NFL, Jeudy has struggled. He has watched his draft mates Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aiyuk, all of whom were drafted after him in the first round, put up 1,000-yard seasons and sign lucrative extensions while he has struggled.
However, over the last month, the 25-year-old has been one of the most productive receivers in the league, putting him on the brink of his first 1,000-yard receiving season. He ranks fourth in receiving yards per game (94.8) since Week 8 and has established himself as the Browns’ best after they traded Amari Cooper in mid-October. On Monday night, he returns to Denver to face the Broncos (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN), the team that traded him, for the first time.
“I didn’t really go around [the game] in my mind,” Jeudy told ESPN two weeks ago. “I’m taking each game day by day, week by week. But of course, that’s my old team. So you want to be able to play against them. “Those are all real competitors.”
JEUDY DESCRIBED HIS four seasons with the Broncos as “frustrating.”
When asked to reflect on the Smith incident, he said he wished the former receiver would be more empathetic to his situation in Denver.
“The only reason it’s annoying is, especially a receiver like Steve Smith, he understands that you’re only as good as your quarterback, your line and your player,” Jeudy said. “No matter how good you are, no matter how open you are, if you don’t get the ball, it doesn’t really matter. You can look at the numbers and say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t have the numbers.'” to compare with other kids.’
“But when you play the tape, how many times do you see me open? Or how many times do you see me open and I don’t get the ball?”
Jeudy said the lack of continuity at quarterback and within the coaching staff never allowed him to feel comfortable. The Broncos started six quarterbacks and had four head coaches and three offensive coordinators while Jeudy was in Denver.
“My rookie year, I had some falls. That was the biggest thing,” Jeudy told ESPN in late November. “But the years after that, I felt like I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to show my talent with all these different OCs and different schemes and stuff like that. So I couldn’t really show my skills and my route-running skills.
“It just wasn’t right for me.”
In four seasons in Denver, Jeudy caught 211 passes for 3,053 yards and 11 touchdowns amid frequent periods of inconsistency, whether drops or games with little production.
Jeudy sought a change of scenery, telling ESPN that he requested a trade for two consecutive years. The Browns attempted to trade for Jeudy before last year’s trade deadline. In March, the two sides closed the deal.
Denver needed draft picks to rebuild the roster after taking on a historic salary cap burden by releasing quarterback Russell Wilson, making the trade more palatable.
“It just wasn’t working there,” Jeudy told ESPN. “I felt like I was a much better player than what they used me for. I wanted to go somewhere that would use me, see my full potential and take advantage of it.”
Jeudy signed a three-year, $58 million extension days after being traded to the Browns, but he was a notch below the best receiver deals given to his draft peers.
“It’s never a bad thing to have security,” Jeudy said. “You really don’t know what the season is going to be like. Of course I wanted to bet on myself, but as a receiver, there’s a lot of things you have to depend on.”
IN JEUDY, THE The Browns got a player they coveted since the draft. A team source said Cleveland valued Jeudy’s elite route running opposite Cooper and viewed his extension, averaging $17.5 million a year, as a bargain for a player with his pedigree. But as the Browns’ new offense with quarterback Deshaun Watson floundered, Jeudy had little impact. In the first seven games of the season, he averaged 38 yards per game and caught one touchdown pass.
Late in the third quarter of the Browns’ Week 7 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, a point where Jeudy had not seen any targets and only saw an errant pass pass over his head, he walked to the sideline and crashed his helmet against the bench in frustration. Days later, Jeudy apologized for not channeling his anger in a more productive way.
“There’s no reason,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said when asked why Jeudy caught a pass. “I should touch the ball.”
The Browns’ trade of Cooper moved Jeudy to the No. 1 wide receiver spot. And with quarterback Jameis Winston replacing the injured Watson, who posted the lowest QBR in the NFL before rupturing his right Achilles tendon in Week 7, Jeudy has gotten the consistent opportunities he’s wanted since arriving in Cleveland.
The Browns collapsed in the fourth quarter of a 35-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 11, but Jeudy turned in his most productive game of the season: a 142-yard, six-catch performance that included an 89-yard touchdown. It was Jeudy’s first 100-yard game since Week 18 of the 2022 season.
Four days later, in Cleveland’s upset victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jeudy caught all six of his targets for a game-high 85 yards, including multiple tough catches amid the snowy elements. They were the kind of catches he was criticized for not making in Denver.
“We know he can get open, he can run away from people,” Stefanski said, “but when you can make those contested catches, you become a very difficult guy for the defense to cover.”
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND Football coach Mike Locksley, who was offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2017 and 2018, called Jeudy one of the most talented route runners he has ever seen.
“Jerry has the ability to run routes that look like works of art,” Locksley said.
But while Jeudy trained last offseason, he wanted to be a more complete (and consistent) receiver, according to Locksley. That included working on his conditioning to ensure he could play the high-level plays required of a top option.
“He’s embracing the whole part of being a football player,” Winston said. “And I think Jerry Jeudy is one of the best football players I’ve ever played with.”
Jeudy has recorded at least 70 receiving yards in four consecutive games, the longest streak of his career. He leads the Browns in targets (78), receptions (45) and receptions (645) and is on pace for career highs in all three categories.
“The attributes of a number one receiver is being open, being able to make plays after the catch,” Winston said. “Look at Jerry Jeudy. If you look at Jerry Jeudy and see the things he does, he gets open. He runs after the catch and fights for the ball.”
On an aging roster that has disappointed with a 3-8 record this season, Jeudy’s emergence has been positive. The Browns’ hope in adding Jeudy was that he could become an excellent passing option behind Cooper and Pro Bowl tight end David Njoku, which became a necessity with Cooper’s departure. And Jeudy’s hope is that his recent surge is a sign of things to come.
“As a receiver, to get into a rhythm, you have to get the ball consistently,” Jeudy said. “The last two weeks, they’ve been giving me opportunities… Now that I’m getting opportunities, I’m getting into a rhythm. Now, it’s only up from here.”
