Lined up in a bunch formation to the right of quarterback Drew Lock on the Broncos’ third offensive play last week at Kansas City, Jerry Jeudy received a pick from fellow rookie receiver KJ Hamler to get away from cornerback Charvarius Ward.
Six yards into his “over” route, Jeudy, looking back at Lock, put his right hand in the air, the Universal Receiver Signal for, “I’m open. Throw it to me.”
Lock opted to look left to tight end Noah Fant instead of middle to Jeudy and it worked out — a 37-yard catch-and-run by Fant.
And so it went for Jeudy, who has only eight catches in the last four games and enters the season’s final stretch with only one game of more than 73 yards (125 in the loss at Atlanta).
Against the Chiefs, Jeudy’s first target came on a corner route with eight minutes left in the third quarter. His only catch (five-yard out route) was on the Broncos’ final drive.
Before the Broncos’ charter flight left Kansas City, Jeudy tweeted — and then deleted — a line about getting his “cardio” in, an understandable sign of frustration.
Entering Sunday’s game at Carolina, Jeudy has 38 catches for 594 yards and two touchdowns, totals that don’t lead the Broncos or the NFL’s other rookie receivers.
A focal point of the final four games should be allowing Jeudy to exit the season with a good vibe about himself, about the offense and about the future.
“I don’t think he’s hit the wall at all, I just think he’d like to have more catches and I don’t know of any receiver that doesn’t feel that way,” coach Vic Fangio said. “I don’t know what he said or didn’t say on Twitter, but I’m OK with Jerry. Jerry’s in a good spot.”
A prerogative for offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is to get Jeudy in better spots to help Lock.
Impact of Sutton’s loss
The Broncos’ Plan A entering the regular season: Courtland Sutton would be the No. 1 receiver and his two years of game tape would attract the opponent’s best cornerback and over-the-top safety help. In turn, that would allow Jeudy to equal parts work against a potentially less-talented player and do so in a 1-on-1 situation.
That plan was torpedoed in Week 2 at Pittsburgh when Sutton tore his ACL.
Suddenly, Jeudy got the occasional extra attention.
“I don’t know if that’s happened exclusively, but it’s happened some,” Fangio said.
That was clear against the Chiefs. On the Broncos’ first series, Jeudy lined up wide left and ran a go route down the sideline, trailed by a corner and eyed by a safety. Later in the first half, out of a bunch right formation, Jeudy appeared to be bracketed by a cornerback and linebacker.
The loss of Sutton impacted Lock the most and Jeudy was a close second — a reason why Jeudy trails other rookie receivers statistically. He can’t play off a veteran.
Jeudy is seventh among rookie receivers in catches, fifth in yards and tied for seventh in touchdowns. The top four in catches all have the benefit of a veteran teammate.
Justin Jefferson (Minnesota) leads with 61 catches for 1,039 yards playing opposite Adam Thielen.
CeeDee Lamb (Dallas) has 59 catches for 696 yards playing with Amari Cooper.
Tee Higgins (Cincinnati) has 53 catches for 729 yards playing with Tyler Boyd.
And Chase Claypool (Pittsburgh) has 47 catches for 649 yards playing with JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Even in Broncos’ history, the two previous first-round receivers didn’t have the defensive spotlight on them.
In 2002, Ashley Lelie had 35 catches for 525 yards and two touchdowns playing behind receivers Rod Smith (89 catches) and Ed McCaffrey (69) and also tight end Shannon Sharpe (61).
In 2010, Demaryius Thomas had 22 catches for 282 yards and two touchdowns playing behind Brandon Lloyd (77 catches)
Translation: Rookie receivers often take time.
Because of his high-profile college career at Alabama and draft status (No. 15 overall), expectations were high for Jeudy — his numbers were expected to be similar to the Vikings’ Jefferson. But the going is often slow for young receivers who enter the NFL unaccustomed to learning the entire route tree and facing press coverage.
Sure, Jeudy has produced flashes that should make the Broncos optimistic. He had at least four catches in each of the first three games. He had a 48-yard touchdown against the New York Jets. And he has a team-high 17 “explosive” catches (gain of at least 16).
But Jeudy wants more. And the Broncos want more.
“You want a receiver that wants the ball,” Lock said. “You want a guy that wants it in his hands and wants to make plays. That’s what we like about Jerry. He wants the ball in any situation — the beginning of the game or crunch-time toward the end.”
Catches come in bunches
So how does Shurmur get Jeudy going, assuming his recent ankle injury isn’t limiting him?
“This year’s rookies really got cheated in terms of their development,” Shurmur said. “With regard to Jerry, he’s out there competing. There were probably a couple other times when he could have gotten the ball (last week).”
Against the Chiefs, the Broncos wanted to get Fant going and he had six first-half catches. The modus operandi against Carolina should be about involving Jeudy.
Against the Chiefs, Jeudy played 49 snaps. Not including the three negated by penalty, he lined up wide left (27 snaps), wide right (11), bunch right (11), bunch left (two) and tight right, tight left and slot left (one apiece).
Jeudy wasn’t used in motion one time, which would have allowed him a free release at the snap and allowed Lock to get one final bit of information about the Chiefs’ coverage on the play. And putting him in a bunch formation could allow Jeudy to get free room to operate.
“It makes sense to throw him the ball and we’re going to continue to do that,” Shurmur said. “I think sometimes it comes in bunches.”
Said Lock: “It’s how the game flows and I know he’s learning that right now. As a receiver in this league, there are times when it’s tough to get the ball (only) every once in a while. It’s about fighting through those games.”
Rookie receiver comparison
A look at the top rookie receivers in the NFL this year in three statistical categories:
| Catches | |
| Justin Jefferson, Minnesota | 61 |
| CeeDee Lamb, Dallas | 59 |
| Tee Higgins, Cincinnati | 53 |
| Chase Claypool, Pittsburgh | 47 |
| Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco | 40 |
| Darnell Mooney, Chicago | 40 |
| Jerry Jeudy, Broncos | 38 |
| Receiving yards | |
| Jefferson | 1,039 |
| Higgins | 729 |
| Lamb | 696 |
| Claypool | 649 |
| Jeudy | 594 |
| Touchdown catches | |
| Claypool | 8 |
| Jefferson | 7 |
| Higgins | 5 |
| Gabriel Davis, Buffalo | 5 |
| Lamb | 4 |
| Aiyuk | 4 |
| Six players (including Jeudy) | 2 |
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December 13, 2020 at 08:00PM
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Broncos receiver Jerry Jeudy’s rookie year: Some flashes, but not enough catches - The Denver Post
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