NFL.com Renders Bold Prediction on Broncos' WR Jerry Jeudy
If the Denver Broncos' major reclamation project with quarterback Russell Wilson is going to be successful, then the faith shown by the entire organization in its current group of wide receivers will have to be repaid.
On account of Jerry Jeudy's strong finish to the 2022 season, GM George Paton fairly sensibly picked up the fifth-year option on the 24-year-old pass catcher. Financial security now assured, it's up to Jeudy to live up to some pretty lofty and long-held expectations that he’s got what it takes to become a bonafide No. 1 receiver in the NFL.
NFL.com's Bucky Brooks is a true believer in Jeudy’s precision route running, and to such an extent that he's pegging the former Alabama star to be one of his breakthrough players to watch in 2023.
“The route-running specialist has a chance to emerge as the Broncos' featured pass catcher in Sean Payton's offense. As a versatile playmaker with the potential to create mismatches from the slot or out wide, Jeudy gives Payton a versatile chess piece to deploy all over the chessboard. Given the creative play caller's success with Michael Thomas, Brandin Cooks, Marques Colston and many others over the years, Jeudy could finish with 100-plus catches as Denver's No. 1 option.”
Considering the depth of the Broncos' wide receiver room, Brooks is going all-in on his bold prediction that Jeudy will smash through the 100-catch threshold next season. Whether or not the Broncos came close at points to trading Jeudy away this offseason will remain somewhat of a mystery, but the general feeling is that they're now more than comfortable hitching their wagon to the budding star.
Wilson's extremely poor first year in Denver reflected particularly badly on the receiver group in general, but when the veteran quarterback finally started to show some signs of improvement toward the tail end of the campaign, Jeudy became his principle game-breaker.
It also coincided with injuries dictating that Jeudy would find himself lined up at the X-receiver spot, and also in the slot, to create a myriad of different match-ups. All features of what Coach Payton is likely to deploy in his very derivative of the West Coast offense, and it might well see Jeudy’s statistical production skyrocket as a result.
Therefore, it's essential that Wilson and Jeudy get busy working on further developing the bond between each other, which is fated to be one of the most compelling subplots to keep an eye on during training camp this Summer.
Should Jeudy indeed respond and post a 100-catch season, as Brooks has forecasted, it will also provide a surefire outlier that Wilson will have regained a huge amount of his lost mojo.
Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!
