Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy was traded to the Cleveland Browns, but the New York Jets were reportedly one of several teams that had shown interest.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Jeudy had drawn interest from five or six teams, with the Jets being one of them, as were the New England Patriots.
Jeudy is a former first round pick of the Broncos in the 2020 NFL Draft, but has been a fixture in reported trade talks for around the last year after not finding the same level of success as other members of his draft class at the receiver position.
Regardless, Jeudy has been a big part of the Broncos’ offense, with 184 targets over the last two seasons and totaling 1,745 yards – finishing just shy of 1,000 yards in 2022 – at 14.2 yards per catch with eight touchdowns.
He spent the majority of his snaps in 2023 lined up in the slot but has the ability to be moved around the formation, providing flexibility to an offense with close to a 50-50 split in slot snaps versus boundary snaps in his career.
It’s no surprise that the Jets were at the very least interested in trading for Jeudy, with wide receiver being arguably the second biggest need on the team behind addressing the offensive line.
Outside of Garrett Wilson, the Jets second leading receiver in 2023 was Allen Lazard with 311 yards followed by Xavier Gipson with 229 yards. Of course, having Aaron Rodgers under center will help with this, but nonetheless, upgrades are needed to take some of the burden off of Wilson.
“We’ve got some great young guys,” said Wilson via The Athletic, “we’ve got some great vets,” he said. “I think another infusion of someone that brought different things to the table that gives the defense something to worry about, that would be beneficial to everyone, not just me.”
The Browns acquired Jeudy for 2024 fifth and sixth-round picks. Obviously, in a vacuum, this is a deal the Jets could have made. However, they are already somewhat limited in draft capital, ranking 22nd in total draft pick value, according to Tankathon, while having a number of needs to fill.
Jeudy is also set to play out the 2024 season on his fifth-year option, which the Broncos did pick up last offseason. That option comes with a $12.98 million salary for 2024, and because this is effectively a one-year deal, that entire amount would hit this year’s salary cap.
At the moment, Over the Cap has the Jets with $20.71 million in total cap space. You can read more about the Jets’ cap situation here.
There’s a decent chance that a long-term deal would have also had to have been worked out with Jeudy had the Jets acquired him, which would have helped lower Jeudy’s 2024 cap hit.
All we know is that the Jets were “interested” – which is a relative term – in Jeudy but to what level is unknown. The Jets’ current draft capital situation, coupled with Jeudy’s 2024 cap hit and the roster holes they have elsewhere, may have been limiting factors for New York.
