It was a headline-making day for the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday, announcing they have extended recently acquired wide receiver Jerry Jeudy.
Cleveland has signed Jeudy to a three-year extension worth up to $58 million with $41 million guaranteed. To call this decision puzzling is an understatement. Jeudy is yet to play a down in a Browns uniform, but that’s not necessarily the biggest issue at the moment. The former first-round selection of the Denver Broncos has mostly been a disappointment so far in his young career. Jeudy has not been the number one receiver he was expected to be coming out of college, and yet, the Browns will be paying him like one. It would be one thing if Jeudy had put together one monster season. It would also be encouraging if Jeudy had at least shown elite traits, which again, he hasn’t.
A familiar series of events for Andrew Berry
Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry’s past interest in bringing Jeudy to Cleveland is not exactly a secret. Berry attempted to acquire him last season from Denver before their season fell apart. Berry’s fascination with Jeudy goes further back, which paints a very familiar picture.
This is not the first time that Berry has attempted to acquire the services of a player multiple times. A recent example would be his pursuit of Jadeveon Clowney. Berry was infatuated with Clowney and the idea of bringing him to Cleveland. Clowney would turn down their first attempt by signing with the Tennessee Titans before coming to Cleveland the next season. Sounds pretty similar, right?
The fact that this is a recurring theme for Berry is somewhat concerning. It is not the attempts to bring talented players to the team that is the issue. It is that Berry’s judgment is clouded by his obsession with certain individuals and his stop-at-nothing attitude to acquire their services, while pivoting to another option may be the better course of action.
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Trust AB? Not so fast.
Many defenders of this deal have stated their trust in the Browns general manager. Some have noted the previous extension to tight end David Njoku while his value was at an all-time low as a reason to support this decision. Many championed the decision at the time and have taken victory laps after Njoku’s career year last season. However, most seem to omit the fact that Njoku was averaging just four receptions for 39.9 yards per game during the first half of the season. It was not until Cleveland’s hand was forced and turned to Joe Flacco that finally resulted in Njoku becoming what many have painted him to be since being drafted.
Why does mentioning Njoku’s first half of the season matter? It (mostly) came with Deshaun Watson at quarterback. Watson has largely failed to live up to the mega contract he signed. Cleveland’s passing game has nosedived into irrelevance with Watson at the helm, and there is little to indicate that is going to change any time soon.
This brings us to Jeudy. The soon-to-be 25-year-old receiver is coming into the exact same situation as Njoku did last season. Unless Watson has a massive uptick in play or a backup comes in to save the day, it is hard to envision Jeudy having a sudden spike in production when he has not proven capable of doing so.
State of the Browns receiving group
Cleveland’s top three receivers are, in no particular order, Jeudy, Amari Cooper, and Elijah Moore. Barring a restructure or extension, Jeudy is the only one of this group under contract after this season. So, if there is one positive to take away from this, it is that there will be at least one of these players returning next season. Ensuring year-over-year roster consistency is essential to a winning organization, even if Jeudy’s extension is a bit premature.
Finding a way to retain Cooper beyond this year would make Jeudy’s new deal a lot more tolerable. While there is potential for Jeudy to become a better receiver, having yet another inconsistent offensive player on a multi-year deal is far from ideal. If the Browns can manage to retain a consistent pass catcher, such as Cooper, it would provide some much-needed stability to a passing game that desperately needs it. But until then, this new contract remains puzzling at best.