Christian Petersen/Getty Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy scores a touchdown against Arizona in an August 2023 preseason game.
Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy is on track to make his 2023 season debut against the Washington Commanders on Sunday, September 17, 2023.
Jeudy is projected to shake off any rust and make a big impact for the Broncos from the start as they try to bounce back from the 17-16 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in week 1.
Heavy’s partners at Quarter4 are projecting Jeudy as a top-10 fantasy wide receiver in his first game of the 2023 season. The projections are made using Quarter4’s proprietary and validated deep learning neural network.
Jeudy, the Broncos’ 24-year-old 2020 first round pick out of Alabama, missed the first game of the season with a hamstring injury but was a full participant at practice on Thursday, according to Heavy’s partners at RotoWire. He is not expected to have any restrictions in his debut, RotoWire reports.
The Broncos (0-1) and Commanders (1-0) game kicks off at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on CBS at 4:25 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. The Commanders are coming off of a 20-16 week 1 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
Jerry Jeudy Is Projected to Catch at Least 5 Passes for 80 Yards
From The Insiders on NFL+: #Broncos WR Jerry Jeudy (hamstring) was a full participant yesterday, putting him on track to play this Sunday. That’ll help.
Jeudy is projected to have at least 5 catches for 80 yards with a touchdown, according to Quarter4’s fantasy projections for the second week of the season. He is ranked as the eighth best fantasy option at wide receiver this week by Quarter4.
In 2022, Jeudy finished the season with 67 catches for 972 yards and six touchdowns. RotoWire wrote in its fantasy outlook for the fourth-year receiver, “Not much went right in Denver last season, but Jeudy was among the few reasons for optimism as he bounced back from his ugly sophomore campaign and again looked the part of a first-round pick. He didn’t quite get to 1,000 receiving yards, in part because he missed two games, ultimately finishing at 67-972-6 on the strength of a big finish to the year.”
Jerry Jeudy moving well in practice today.
RotoWire added, “His big finish — 523 yards over the final six games — has reignited hype around the 2020 first-rounder, while teammate Courtland Sutton has still failed to recapture his pre-ACL-tear form after suffering the injury Week 1 in 2020.”
Broncos head coach Sean Payton told reporters at his press conference on September 13 that Jeudy was close to playing in Denver’s first game of the season against Las Vegas. “He was a game day decision, hamstrings are tricky though,” Payton said. “The idea of possibly getting set back two or three more weeks.”
Payton added, “But he was close, we actually had a workout pregame to got through it and we made our decision off of that.”
Jeudy’s QB, Russell Wilson, Is Projected as a Top 15 Fantasy Option in Week 2
With Jeudy back in the mix, Broncos QB Russell Wilson is projected as a top 15 fantasy quarterback option for week 2, according to Quarter4’s projections. Quarter4 is projecting Wilson to throw for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Commanders.
In his first game of 2023, Wilson completed 27 of 34 passes for 177 yards, including touchdown passes to Sutton and Lil’Jordan Humphrey. Wilson only rushed once for a yard.
Sutton is projected by Quarter4 to have 4 catches for 53 yards in week 2. While Jeudy will be back on the field, Wilson be without one of his top targets, tight end Greg Dulcich, who injured his hamstring and is expected to miss multiple weeks.
RotoWire wrote in its fantasy outlook after the game, “The veteran signal-caller’s numbers were otherwise mostly indistinguishable and even less robust than many of his disappointing 2022 stat lines, and that the lackluster season-opening performance came against a vulnerable defense in that of the Raiders’ adds to the fantasy-related concerns.
RotoWire added, “However, the fact Wilson was without his presumptive No. 1 receiver in Jerry Jeudy (hamstring) certainly played a part in his modest numbers, and he’ll have an opportunity to up his production in a Week 2 home matchup versus the Commanders.”
Quarter4 projects the Broncos as a 4-point favorite over the Commanders and give Denver a 63 percent win probability.