Broncos GM Talks Jerry Jeudy Rumor at Trade Deadline
Trading away pass rusher Bradley Chubb undoubtedly weakens the Denver Broncos for the rest of the season. That being said, after GM George Paton weighed up all the factors, it made sense to move on from Chubb now and get value in return.
The $110 million deal Chubb subsequently received from the Miami Dolphins confirmed that Denver likely wouldn't have been a factor when it came to free-agent talks anyway. But some Broncos fans might still be peeved at how things went down at the trade deadline, especially because their premium pass rusher departed.
It's very understandable, but recouping a valuable first-round draft pick for Chubb has allowed Paton the flexibility to keep his young wide receiver corps entirely intact.
It was rumored that the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers had enquired about the availability of Jerry Jeudy — only to be scared off by Denver's asking price. The Broncos also boast Courtland Sutton and KJ Hamler at the position.
Paton has always maintained his willingness to be in on every deal, and while he may have been all ears, he wasn't ultimately persuaded to split up a position group he believes can really excel.
“We received a number of calls on our receivers and some other positions. We wanted to keep our young, talented receivers,” Paton said on Tuesday following the Chubb trade. “We started to get some rhythm in the last game versus Jacksonville and we just feel good with where we're going. We're trending in the right direction with Jerry, Hamler and Courtland. We didn't want to break that up. We have a good thing going. We're in it to win it moving forward and so we kept all of our receivers.”
Jeudy looked more comfortable in general against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in London, snagging six passes for 63 yards and going in for a key score. Hopes are high that, given some additional time, he and quarterback Russell Wilson can build even more chemistry together.
That process of bonding and developing precision timing between Jeudy and Wilson has been slower than most had imagined, but keeping the gang together was the only true way of working out the kinks.
Jeudy's natural talent was always going to attract interest from other receiver-needy teams. The rumor was that Paton's asking price for Jeudy started with a second-round pick. After successfully dealing Chubb, perhaps Paton decided that by suddenly leaping back into the first round of next year's draft, he could stop short of selling the house.
As always, Paton is looking way ahead. By keeping just enough assets in place, he’s also indicating that the Broncos haven't given up on this season yet.
Some fans might disagree that the Broncos have enough talent left over to realistically climb back into the AFC playoff picture, but Paton directly called on the fan base to keep believing in his ongoing project.
“I would tell them our goals haven't changed and we feel we can still win moving forward,” Paton said of Broncos Country. “We feel we have depth at the outside linebacker position, we have a top-five defense and we feel like the offense is trending in the right direction. We believe in our coaching staff, we believe in our players and we feel like we can make a push in the second half.”
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