Jerry Jeudy is one of the Broncos’ most dynamic playmakers. Without a touchdown for the entire 2021 season, it’s clear he was used wrong. How can we expect him to be used in the future?
The Denver Broncos are currently searching for their 17th head coach in franchise history. Regardless of who gets hired, tackling the offensive struggles of the past seven years will be one of the main priorities.
Within those struggles lie putting players in spots where they can succeed. Something that did not seem was happening in 2021 with Pat Shurmur and Jerry Jeudy. With how good of a route runner Jeudy is, paired with his speed and ability with the ball in his hands it is inexcusable he was not schemed the ball more and is more advantageous ways.
There are many rumors circling around of who will be the Broncos’ new head coach, none being floated around more than the possibility of bringing in Dan Quinn.
Along with Quinn, it is being said he would look to bring in a Kyle Shanahan-style offense, aiming to bring in the 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. On that premise, I watched the 49ers’ offense to get a feel on how Jerry Jeudy would be used.
Firstly, I had to find a similar player to Jeudy on that roster. After watching a couple of games, Brandon Aiyuk seemed to fit the mold.
Aiyuk is a dynamic receiver with good speed, quick feet, good route running, and subtle nuances that help him get open, similar to Jeudy. They are also a similar body type.
With pick 15 in the 2020 NFL Draft, the #Broncos selected Jerry Jeudy, WR, Alabama.
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 24, 2020
He posted a good #RAS with okay size, great speed, good explosiveness, at the WR position.https://t.co/GAtKk8KwFh#BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/1Irf13ZboN
With pick 25 in the 2020 NFL Draft, the #49ers selected Brandon Aiyuk, WR, Arizona State.
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 24, 2020
He posted a great #RAS with okay size, good speed, elite explosiveness, at the WR position.https://t.co/ccdQJowqTR pic.twitter.com/55p1D32KYK
The 49ers’ passing structure is all about yards after the catch. Shanahan and McDaniel scheme their guys to get the ball in their hands on the move. They finished the season 8th in yards after catch and QB Jimmy Garoppolo leads the league in YAC per completion at 6.5.
In a formational sense, Aiyuk was used as a boundary receiver more than a slot receiver. He saw 722 snaps out wide as opposed to 180 in the slot. He was mostly lined up as a boundary X in three-by-one formations (meaning he was the lone receiver). I don’t believe Jeudy will see this imbalance as the Broncos’ have a traditional X receiver in Courtland Sutton and the 49ers’ don’t.
As mentioned before, Aiyuk was used on in or out breaking routes running away from the defender. The most frequent routes he saw targets while running were posts, slants, choice, digs, middle reads, corner posts, and blaze-outs.
Watch this clip from a game against the Cardinals.
The 49ers get Aiyuk on the inside to the weak side matched up on linebacker Isaiah Simmons. The concept is weak side choice, the coaching point for the receiver is to break the leverage of the defender and break the opposite defender.
In the example above, Simmons is positioned with inside leverage, so Aiyuk closes space and broke to the outside.
Watch this clip from the playoff game against the Cowboys.
The Cowboys show a two-high coverage shell pre-snap but roll to Cover 3 match coverage. Aiyuk is one on one with Trevon Diggs and is running what Kyle Shanahan calls a blaze-out. The coaching point is to break to the post to get the DB to open his hips then plant and break back out to the sidelines.
In the red zone, the 49ers use Aiyuk’s feet and quickness to their advantage through formations. They widen out the defense and get one on one matchups and put Aiyuk in a position to utilize his lateral quickness.
Watch this clip from a game against the Bears.
The 49ers are in a four-by-one empty formation stretching the defense horizontally. The Bears play man with the LB (#44) either playing Garoppolo’s eyes or spying. Aiyuk gets plenty of separation on his slant and makes it an easy throw.
Ultimately, the Broncos need to hit on the quarterback position to fully optimize anyone’s potential on offense, but, Shanahan’s offense is one of the more QB-friendly schemes out there.
Denver Broncos 6 offensive coordinators that could come with Dan Quinn
If the Denver Broncos wind up hiring odds-on favorite Dan Quinn as the team's new head coach, who will they hire as offensive coordinator?
If they do go the route of Dan Quinn paired with a Shanahan-style offensive coordinator, Jerry Jeudy has a lot to look forward to as this scheme best suits his play style.