When properly deployed, Jerry Jeudy has flashed the potential to be one of the most dynamic receiving threats in football.
But Jeudy’s second season with the Broncos has brought stagnation. That trend continued Sunday when Jeudy had no catches in the Broncos’ 15-10 loss to the Bengals. The wideout has no touchdown receptions this season.
It was only the second game in Jeudy’s young career that he’s been shut out in catches. The other came during the Broncos’ quarterback fiasco last season against the Saints when Denver was forced to play practice squad wideout Kendall Hinton at the position in a Week 12 loss to New Orleans.
“The whole saying, ‘Shooters shoot’ — well, Jerry has to have the ball in his hands for him to be able to shoot,” quarterback Drew Lock pointed out. “We’ve got to give him more targets here and there, maybe… There’s a lot that goes into our game plans, and there are some nights where the ball doesn’t come your way as much. But he’s a guy who deserves the ball in his hands.”
Lock, who played the majority of the second half for Denver after Teddy Bridgewater exited with a head injury in the third quarter, tried to find Jeudy a few times on the Broncos’ final possession. But the result was a pair of incompletions, although Jeudy did have a nine-yard catch wiped out because of a Cincinnati penalty. Earlier, Jeudy was also targeted twice by Bridgewater but to no avail.
Lock’s final attempt to Jeudy, on a crossing route on third-and-24 with 18 seconds left in the game, sailed well over Jeudy’s head.
Coach Vic Fangio pointed out the Broncos’ passing game “never found any rhythm” while posting only 159 yards. Lock’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Tim Patrick was the lone highlight.
“It’s everything we need to work on (to get Jeudy the ball more),” Fangio said. “We have to do a better job of getting open (on Jeudy’s part), we have to do a better job of scheming to get open, we have to do a better job of having more balance in our offense so our passing game has a better chance to succeed.”
Jeudy, who was not made available to media by the Broncos after the game, has only five catches for gains of 20 or more yards this year. The NFL leader in that category heading into Week 15 was the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson, with 22.
Jefferson, like Jeudy, was a first-round draft selection last year and was taken seven picks after Jeudy. But while Jefferson has progressed in Year 2, Jeudy has regressed. After suffering a high ankle sprain in Week 1, Jeudy went on injured reserve and returned in Week 8. He has 33 catches for 377 yards this season compared to 52 for 856 and three touchdowns as a rookie.
And Jeudy is not the only Broncos wideout who has seen diminished production over the past month. Courtland Sutton, who signed a four-year, $60.8 million extension Nov. 22, has seven catches for 53 yards and no touchdowns in the four games since the ink dried on that contract.
After the loss to Kansas City on Dec. 5, Sutton said he’s not bothered by his lack of targets this year (55 in 14 games, compared to 72 in 16 games in his Pro Bowl season in 2019). Sutton had two catches for 12 yards in the loss to Cincinnati.
“Our objective is to win the game,” Sutton said. “It is not to get Courtland Sutton a lot of targets.”
