As the Denver Broncos approach the October 31st trade deadline, the front office has reportedly already begun "internal discussions" about a trade for a few starters on their roster. One of those players consists of WR Jerry Jeudy who could very well be playing in his last game with the Broncos on Thursday Night Football.
According to Matt Lombardo, senior NFL insider for FanBuzz, the Denver Broncos are expected to trade star WR Jerry Jeudy prior to the deadline with the hopes of prying away a premium draft pick in return. Through the first four years of his pro career, Jeudy's tenure with the Broncos certainly has not lived up to the hype of a former 15th-overall pick. However, the blame is not on any single person in particular.
NEW: Multiple league sources tell me they expect the #Broncos to trade Jerry Jeudy prior to the deadline, with one NFC Executive saying they have already had “internal discussions” about a possible deal.
— Matt Lombardo 🏈 (@MattLombardoNFL) October 12, 2023
MORE, including Jeudy’s best fits | @FanBuzz https://t.co/oCfmBuOHvD
Riddled by drops in his rookie campaign, Jeudy has always received unnecessary criticism that has been perpetuated by a lazy argument. Jeudy's 17 career drops average out to 4.25 a season, which is not a poor number by any means. In fact, if it were not for his five-drop performance against the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020, Jeudy would only have a low 12 drops in his career. For Jerry Jeudy's career, the drops have reasonably been the last concern.
During the first four seasons of his young career, Jeudy has experienced five different play-callers, three different offensive coordinators, three different head coaches, and most importantly five different starting quarterbacks (eight quarterback changes). With the combination of horrible play-calling and poor quarterback play, it has been the absolute worst-case scenario for Jeudy to start his career in Denver. It is even impressive that he has been able to string together 2,500 receiving yards through that duration.
To put it in better perspective, if you were to place a Justin Jefferson or CeeDee Lamb in Jeudy's situation with the Broncos the last 3.25 years, you would almost certainly see relatively identical production from those receivers. Football is a team sport and is especially a team-oriented sport when it comes to the wide receiver position. If the offensive line is not able to hold blocks for a sustainable amount of time and the quarterback is not an accurate passer, how else is a player like Jerry Jeudy supposed to live up to the expectations of a first-round pick? Is he supposed to throw himself the ball and block the defensive line simultaneously?
There are a multitude of factors that play into the receiver position meaning that there is only so much Jeudy can do. However, from the other perspective, there are a few concerns that could lead to Denver's decision to move on from Jeudy. While these aren't significant issues, injury history and lack of leadership come to mind. The Broncos have been missing a true leader since the departures of Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas and have yet to replace that role.
All in all, when you truly observe the situation from any angle, it is very clear-cut that the Broncos organization, from top to bottom, utterly failed WR Jerry Jeudy as a player and has thus cost him the first 3.25 years of his career. Jeudy has done a phenomenal job year in and year out as a route runner and has consistently created separation to almost never be thrown the ball.
A player of his skillset should be the focal point of the pass game and should be averaging a minimum of eight targets a game. It's disappointing to know that Jeudy's tenure with the Broncos will end this way. Denver will likely send him away to a contender that will properly utilize him. The expected return is likely a day-two pick for the Broncos.