Denver Broncos: Jerry Jeudy is going to prove rookie struggles a fluke

With the strong play of so many rookie receivers in the vaunted 2020 NFL Draft class, it’s easy for even some of the best prospects in the class to be flying under the radar heading into their second NFL seasons. Somewhat unbelievably, Denver Broncos second-year receiver Jerry Jeudy is being vastly underrated heading into year two.

Jeudy is certainly deserving of some criticism for his play in 2020, at least when it comes to dropped passes. He struggled all throughout the season with concentration drops and frankly may have cost the Denver Broncos a couple of victories, notably in the season opener against the Tennessee Titans and then late in the season in a road loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Had Jeudy caught 100 percent of the catchable passes thrown his way (a feat accomplished by his teammate Tim Patrick), the Denver Broncos might have been closer to the postseason than the top third of the 2021 NFL Draft.

The Broncos have been the subject of a ton of quarterback rumors in the 2021 offseason, though for the time being, their quarterback competition is between incumbent starter Drew Lock and veteran Teddy Bridgewater.

That competition is not exactly inspiring confidence in a year two jump for Jerry Jeudy, but it’s important to keep in mind that Jeudy racked up 856 yards on 52 receptions with three touchdowns in 16 games last season and he had all of Drew Lock, Jeff Driskel, Brett Rypien, and even practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton throwing him passes.

Jeudy also didn’t have the benefit of attention being taken off of him with Courtland Sutton on the field as Sutton was recovering from a knee injury he suffered in the second game of the season.

With Sutton back on the field and drawing a ton of attention as well as all of the other weaponry in the Denver Broncos’ offense, Jeudy is still poised for a big second-year breakout in Denver, regardless of who is throwing him passes.

Denver Broncos: Jerry Jeudy has to clean up the drops

Jeudy has drawn rave reviews all throughout OTAs for the Denver Broncos and despite his issues with drops last season, he has already earned the reputation around the league as one of the best route runners in the game, if not the best.

Getting open is not an issue for Jeudy, regardless of who is playing cornerback on him. Jeudy will make even the best cornerbacks look silly at times, just ask Miami Dolphins star cornerback Xavien Howard…

The dropped passes must be cleaned up. There is no question about it. Jeudy cannot sustain a catch rate under 50 percent on an annual basis. Imagine if this guy could get up into the 60 percent range this year for catch percentage, though.

If he had caught 60 percent of his targets in 2020 and his yards per reception remained the same (16.5), he would have been over 1,100 yards already with just 113 targets.

Improvement in that area is non-negotiable for Jeudy moving forward, but people are selling too much stock in last year’s WR1 for many going into the draft process.

Jeudy is a star, and he’s going to make whoever is playing QB for the Denver Broncos look good.