CLEVELAND, Ohio — Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill outruns cornerbacks. Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans outmuscles them. Hill (5-foot-10) stands on his toes to reach the top shelf. Evans (6-foot-5) ducks under doorways. Point is, no top playmaker looks or plays the same, but they all boast similar traits.
Browns receiver Elijah Moore says they’re all reliable in big moments. Quarterback Jameis Winston says they can all juke defenders, both before and after the catch. Matter of fact, they both know a guy.
“Look at Jerry Jeudy,” Winston said after Thursday’s 24-19 win over Pittsburgh. “If you look at Jerry Jeudy and you see the things that he does, he gets open, he runs after the catch and he fights for the football.”
“… You just gotta get him the ball,” Moore said of Jeudy. “That’s it.”
Blurred among the snow flurries at Huntington Bank Field, Jeudy’s star flashed (again) Thursday against the Steelers secondary. He caught six passes for 86 yards, marking four straight weeks with at least 73 receiving yards. If that doesn’t sound like much, only four other receivers — Tee Higgins, Cooper Kupp, Courtland Sutton, George Pickens — entered Week 12 with three consecutive 70-yard games (Pickens’ ended Thursday). And over 17 games, 73 yards per (1,241 yards total) would rank fourth highest in Browns history and 12th in the NFL last season.
In other words, Jeudy’s four-week floor reads like Pro Bowl production. The sample is small, but the player is young. At 25, Jeudy might finally be blooming late (and large), thanks to the other trademark of a top playmaker.
“As a receiver, you’ve got to have a lot of patience,” Jeudy said postgame. “Boy, you got to have a lot of that. Sometimes, things just don’t go your way. You got to be patient and eventually, your time will come.”
Trace your feet through a receiver’s route tree. Sometimes you run decoy routes. Sometimes you’re double covered. And sometimes, as Jeudy alluded to Thursday, you think you’re open — know you’re open — but the quarterback can’t find you.
For most of Jeudy’s life, passers couldn’t miss him. The former top-35 high school prospect ran wild across football fields in South Florida. And after just three seasons at Alabama (two as a starter) Jeudy ranked fourth in career receiving yards (now fifth, behind DeVonta Smith). He ran a 4.46-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, heard his name called 15th overall during the 2020 NFL draft — literally looked and sounded like a star receiver — only to soon learn that he couldn’t get the ball.
Over the next four season, Jeudy’s Broncos started seven different quarterbacks, none of which posted a passer rating better than 98 (2023 Russell Wilson, who was cut the following offseason). During the same span (57) games, Jeudy tallied five 100-yard performances and zero four-week stretches like his current one (again, only asking for 73 yards). And since the receiver left Denver, he’s wondered — OK, decided — whether those trends are connected.
“I feel I’ve been getting open my whole career,” Jeudy said. “Sometimes just don’t get that much opportunity now. Now I’m here. Now I’m getting open and getting opportunity, so now it’s time to take advantage.”
President of football operations Andrew Berry had the same thought when he acquired Jeudy and extended his contract this summer. Two day three picks is nothing for a former first-rounder. And while the three-year, $52.5 million extension ($41 million guaranteed) might sound rich for a receiver with zero 1,000-yard seasons, it’d be stealing for a star.
Over the last month, Jeudy has flashed like one. He hasn’t run like Hill or bodied corners like Evans, but he has caught six passes on nine targets for 94.8 yards per game on average. He has never dipped below 73 yards. And during the final six minutes of Thursday’s win, he caught three passes — one to convert third down, another to convert fourth — for 46 yards.
Gets open, makes plays reliably, plays his best in big moments: Check, check, check.
Or should I say, give him a gold star?
“I got a lot of guys that I can trust,” Winston said. “But man, when you have someone that is very talented, that has a knack for getting open, has a knack for when the moment matters most, he makes the play, I’m grateful to be throwing the ball with Jerry Jeudy.
