Jerry Jeudy working to reach his potential with Browns - ESPN

JERRY JEUDY STOOD several yards away from an NFL Network set in Kansas City before the Denver Broncos' Week 6 game against the Chiefs last October.

At the desk that day was former NFL wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., who was on-air for the pregame show. The five-time Pro Bowler had criticized Jeudy's play before the season on his podcast, referring to him as a «JAG,» short for «just a guy,» a term used to refer to an average player. Having heard Smith's criticism that summer, Jeudy, pacing back and forth on the field behind, yelled in Smith's direction multiple times, which led Smith to double down on his assessment of Jeudy on air.

«I'm sorry that I said you were a JAG, just a guy who's an average wide receiver they used a first-round pick on that isn't doing anything,» Smith said. «I hope today that you actually show up in a way that you haven't showed up in the last couple years since they drafted you.… I'm sorry for saying that you're an average wide receiver that they will eventually move on [from].

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»And when teams call me and ask should they trade for you, I will say, 'No,' don't trade for Jerry Jeudy, because he's mentally unable to handle constructive criticism… He can be a wide receiver. He's a Tier 3."

Jeudy finished the season with the second-fewest receiving yards in his career (758) and the Broncos traded him, as Smith speculated they would, to the Cleveland Browns for two picks (2024 fifth- and sixth-rounders) in March after Jeudy asked out of Denver.

In his fifth season, Jeudy is still working to be more than «just a guy» and live up to the