The Denver Broncos have a decision to make on their 2020 first-round pick, wide receiver Jerry Jeudy. Will they or won’t they extend Jeudy? One popular platform predicts an extension for all 2020 first-round picks.
The Broncos did agree to pick up Jeudy’s fifth-year option, for the 2024 season. Beyond that is unknown. However, it does make sense to give Jeudy an extension based on his potential. Sure, he has never reached 1,000 yards receiving in a season, but he came very close in 2022 with 972. On just 67 receptions. He also scored six touchdowns.
Here is the extension prediction from Spotrac:
"Denver exercised a $12.9M extension for 2024, affording them time to further assess their offense (most notably their QB1). With Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick both under multi-year extensions already, it might be difficult to justify a long-term deal for Jeudy right now, but he just finished his most productive season to date, and could be in for even bigger numbers this upcoming year.Spotrac
Calculated Valuation: $20.1M per year
Current Position Max AAV: $30M (T. Hill)
Current Position Max Guarantee: $75M (C. Kupp)
Prediction: The Broncos sign Jeudy to a 4 year, $88M extension, including $50M practically guaranteed."
An extension worth $22 million a year for Jeudy seems wild, given that he’s so young. At the same time, giving a player an extension of this magnitude is basically predicting that he’s going to get better and better over time.
It’s been a rough career for Jeudy in that he’s not had the quarterback play of a superstar passer yet. He’s had the likes of Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater, and now most recently a quarterback who has had a Hall of Fame-worthy career but a down year in 2022 in Russell Wilson.
If you’re banking on Jerry Jeudy, you’re banking on two other things:
1. An improved Russell Wilson: It’s entirely possible that Nathaniel Hackett was just a terrible pairing with Wilson. Will Sean Payton be a better match for him or is Wilson actually cooked? I’m going to take the more positive route here and believe that Payton will turn Wilson back to what he once was.
2. What happens if Wilson retires before Jeudy’s potential extension is up? What will the plan be for the Broncos at quarterback? Ideally, they would have drafted a young guy by this point in time and had him developed. That would change the narrative of “the Broncos can’t draft a quarterback and have him succeed.”
It’s all a combination of things. The Broncos have been rumored this offseason to be taking calls (not making calls) for one of their receivers. Oftentimes we have heard rumors of a Jeudy trade. That never came to fruition, so the talk of an extension for Jeudy makes sense at this point.