Will Broncos' GM John Elway be Scared off by Recent Jerry Jeudy Rumor?
In the big, bad world of billion-dollar corporate business, back stabbing is often actively encouraged. As the NFL Draft gets set to kick off in a matter of hours, it seems at least one unnamed team is willing to resort to floating damaging and potentially false medical misinformation about Alabama WR Jerry Jeudy, saying that he has a "lingering knee issue", despite passing all of his med-checks at the Combine back in February.
It's the lying season after all. The reasoning behind such tactics is so a team could trigger a draft slide and subsequently swoop in to capitalize.
At least, that’s exactly how Chris Cabott sees it (Jeudy's agent), as he has come out fighting to nip in the bud the media reports that have cast a pall over his client’s previous knee issues and immediate draft future.
“No issue here. The knee is fine. Jerry never missed a game in two years after the surgery. He never even needed treatment on the knee. Every team examined him at the combine. No team saw anything that even required him to participate in a combine recheck,” Cabott tweeted on Wednesday.
Cabott's strong response to the media reports has some bearing on how the GM John Elway will now handle the situation because Jeudy is most certainly on the Denver Broncos' Big Board.
What has been made abundantly clear by the Alabama star's agent is that he firmly believes darker forces from a team are indeed at work. However, the agent stopped short of naming the source he believes has a bigger and more malicious motive.
“Again, this rumor was spread days before the draft by a team that is looking to cause a stir and hoping for Jerry to fall to him. Not happening,” the agent asserted on Wednesday.
This orchestrated tanking of Jeudy's draft stock is an issue could feasibly plant even the faintest element of doubt into the mind of Elway.
If Elway doubts Jeudy on any level, he need only have listened to 104.3 The Fan on Wednesday to hear Peyton Manning give Jeudy a glowing pre-draft endorsement.
“I’ve watched (Jerry) Jeudy torch my Tennessee Vols. You’re looking for a guy who loves the work, wants to work on his route running. He has to be able to be out there every day, a durable guy,” Manning told the Stokley and Zach Show.
Manning gave a thumbs up to Jeudy's on-field exploits, but also said that Jeudy will have to put in the required grind and remain physically available so he can reach his ultimate NFL potential.
In recent years, the smearing tactic of trying to devalue a player's stock to ward off other teams has gone largely unpoliced and unpunished and is likely to continue unabated. For now, it’s likely that Jeudy’s talent and body of work will still keep him on course to be selected fairly early in round one.
Elway is also a lot more likely to be listening to the positive backing of a guy like Manning than he will be to cheap pre-draft rumors and headlines he can easily see coming from a mile away. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out as legendary Denver insider Woody Paige went on record to predict the Broncos not only land Jeudy in this draft, but trade up for the privilege of doing so.
The NFL Draft kicks off tonight at 6pm MDT. Let the games begin.
Follow Keith on Twitter @KeithC_NFL and @MileHighHuddle.
