John Elway Weighs in on Jerry Jeudy's Public Grievances: 'The Key Thing is Patience'

Jerry Jeudy is not a happy camper. After emerging from the Denver Broncos' 22-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night with one catch on four targets for five yards, he used Twitter to make it clear his dissatisfaction.

Since then, Jeudy's Twitter antics have indicted quarterback Drew Lock and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, forcing Vic Fangio — and all concerned — to have to address it in the media. For a team sitting at 4-8 and trying to at least make this season semi-respectable with four games left to go, the rookie first-rounder's antics are frankly the last thing the Broncos need.

Now, the Broncos' top football executive has weighed in on the Jeudy situation. President of Football Operations and General Manager John Elway had a piece of advice for the rookie in his weekly sitdown with the team website.

“I think the key thing is patience," Elway told Phil Milani. "Jerry’s come in and had a tremendous year for us especially when you look at the circumstances with no offseason, no preseason. What he’s done and come on and played as well as he has. Jerry’s going to have a tremendous career in this league it’s just a matter of being a little bit patient."

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As a Hall-of-Fame quarterback himself, Elway has been importuned by countless wide receivers in their ceaseless quest to garner more touches. He's heard it all.

And as a quarterback who spent nearly two decades in the NFL as the guy responsible for distributing the football to playmakers, while still honoring the game-plan and taking what the defense gave him, Elway knows that wideouts don't have control of where the ball goes. That's where the P-word comes into play.

"Sometimes that ball is not going to come your way and that’s when you have to be patient and realize that different defensive teams are going to do different things," Elway said. "Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get him the ball but he’s always going to be a guy that’s featured in our offense so hopefully we can get him some more catches this week.”

Jeudy would be wise to offer up a footballer's Serenity Prayer of sorts. Here's a stab.

"Football Gods,

Grant me the serenity to accept the targets that go elsewhere, the courage to catch the targets that do come my way, and the wisdom to keep my mouth shut."

My guess is that Jeudy's squeaky-wheel approach, which has gone from the quarterback, to the coordinator, to the head coach, and now the GM, will result in the Broncos giving him some grease on Sunday vs. the Carolina Panthers. No one should blame Jeudy for being dissatisfied with only catching one pass but to drag his 4-8 club, teammate and coaches, through the digital mud — that is not his right.

If the Broncos had a little intestinal fortitude, they'd sit Jeudy down to teach him a lesson about 'team-first' priorities. But listening to Fangio, Shurmur, and now Elway, that's not going to happen.

Perhaps understandably so.

Beggars can't be choosers after all and the Broncos are lacking offensive firepower in a big bad way. This offense needs every playmaker it can get.

Don't be surprised to see Lock look Jeudy's way early and often in Carolina and put to bed any notion of discord between quarterback and wide receiver. On the season, Jeudy has garnered 82 targets with just 38 receptions for 594 yards and two touchdowns.

The rookie's target-to-reception ratio (46.3%) is ugly. But he is a rookie and Jeudy has dropped his fair share of passes this year while rolling with the punches of a veritable QB carousel in the first quarter of the season.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.