For Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, the 2025 NFL season was certainly forgettable. He had been a swaggering Pro Bowler the previous season, racking up career highs in catches with 90 and yards with 1,229, but crashed back to Earth with a thud when he caught 50 passes for 602 yards, with 10 drops, last year. Blame the offense and the poor quarterback play, sure, but no doubt, Jeudy also showed minimal focus and effort throughout the year.
One of the questions for the Browns here in 2026 is which version of Jeudy will line up when the season kicks off in a little more than a week? Maybe Jeudy was just showing his true self in 2025 and that’s what the Browns will get going forward. Or, maybe he was understandably frustrated by the quarterback carousel last year, and with Deshaun Watson–Jeudy is a fan of him–back under center, he will return to 2025 form.
Or, maybe he is just not long for this team.
Browns Bolstered Wide Receiver Room
That’s the view of Zac Jackson, the Browns beat writer for The Athletic, who has never been much of a Jeudy supporter. With the Browns bringing in a pair of high-level rookie receivers, first-round pick KC Concepcion and second-rounder Denzel Boston, the team has already upgraded its receiver room. There’s hope, too, that Isaiah Bond, who was thrown into the fire after being signed as an undrafted rookie last August, can take big strides now that he has had a full camp.
Ideally, the Browns would see those three players surge, along with second-year tight end Harold Fannin, and allow the Browns receivers to have some success no matter what happens with Jeudy.
‘Jerry Jeudy Is Just Really Bad at Football’
Jackson, in fact, sees Jeudy being moves out of the Browns rotation at wide receiver through this season. Already, the team has taken him out of the X spot, which generally goes to the guy considered the best deep weapon. That’s Boston. The plan is to move Jeudy around.
But that’s a prelude to a demotion, Jackson noted. As he said on his “Zac Jackson and Friends” podcast: “Jerry is just really bad at football. That’s not new or a secret. He is so bad, and he was so bad in camp that the two days he caught the ball, it was like, ‘Oh, my god, Jerry Jeudy looked good!’ Then he went right back.
‘I don’t know that he is going to be on the team and I think he is going to be almost out of the rotation sooner than later because he stinks. That’s my deep analysis, because the guy stinks.”
Jerry Jeudy Was OK with Browns Moving Him Inside
The Browns are in the second year of Jeudy’s three-year, $52 million extension and could, conceivably, waive him after this season. The team has pushed a significant portion of his cap hit into the future, with a dead cap value of $34 million, per Spotrac. But he is relatively cheap as a potential trade piece for another team. That will bear watching as the season progresses.
Coach Todd Monken, at least, is still talking as though Jeudy will be a big part of the offense. Again–that’ll bear watching, though.
Asked if Jeudy’s move inside could be viewed as a demotion, Monken said: “I don’t see it that way, and (Jerry Jeudy) didn’t see it that way as far as I understand. In his mind, I think he believes he’s better on the move, and he could see what we could do with him moving him around and keeping him in motion. …
“I just view it as we’re trying to put the pieces where we can best allow us to function offensively. I really don’t care who plays X or who plays Z. … We just thought Denzel’s skill set gave us some things there that Jerry’s didn’t, and Jerry’s skill set playing off the ball allowed us to really maximize his skill set.”
Browns ‘Really Bad’ Pro Bowler Predicted to Get Harsh Demotion