The Los Angeles Rams could have another wide receiver trade target in their sights in Jerry Jeudy of the Cleveland Browns.
Now in his seventh year in the NFL, Jeudy is still just 27, and despite not quite living up to being a top-15 draft pick, he’s still been a productive player throughout his career. He could immediately replace a large portion of Davante Adams’s snaps now that the latter is out for 6-10 weeks, which would help buoy the Rams’ struggling offense at least a bit.
Trade deadline receiver targets
The Athletic first
tied Jeudy to Los Angeles on Thursday in their 50-player NFL trade deadline big board. Regarding Jeudy, The Athletic’s Daniel Popper wrote:
The Todd Monken-led Browns are rolling, sitting atop the AFC North at 4-2. Jeudy has become more of a role player with the emergence of rookies Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion. Still, he is making an impact in Cleveland. He caught a 33-yard pass on the Browns’ winning field goal drive in the fourth quarter against the Ravens, hauling in an in-breaker before finding open grass down the left sideline. The likelihood of a Jeudy trade seems low. Winning teams tend to hang onto good players. But the diminished role might leave the door slightly ajar.
For what it’s worth, Popper listed the Rams as a best fit for Jeudy alongside the San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs, all of whom also have obvious deficiencies at wide receiver.
Jeudy wouldn’t be as exciting of a trade target as Brian Thomas Jr. of the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose name came up earlier this week. And, admittedly, there are a few different concerns at play.
He’s been criticized for drop issues in the past, and as Popper pointed out, he’s not exactly a featured piece in Cleveland anymore due to their rookies’ emergence. Plus, his contract situation isn’t especially favorable, though smart teams like Los Angeles can mess around with those details to make it work.
It’s also worth noting the same issue with a potential Thomas trade, that good teams don’t typically like to trade useful players. Debate all you want about how “good” the Browns actually are, but they’re leading their division through six weeks. That’s an enviable position to be in.
Jerry Jeudy’s potential impact
But if you’re trying to make a run to a Super Bowl, or at least back to relevancy (in terms of the standings, not brand recognition), you have to take chances. It’s not as if Jeudy is a bad player, just not a true superstar. He would immediately add more juice to a wide receiver room that currently looks alarming.
The Rams don’t need to make a move just for the sake of making a move, but at positions of need they also can’t afford to be too choosy. One, the season is already a third over and they have plenty of ground to make up. Secondly, it’s simply not easy to find franchise-shifting players at the trade deadline.
It’s not a perfect fit, but Jerry Jeudy is at least a functional player with a skill set that should mesh well with Matthew Stafford’s traditional desire to push the ball down the field. In a best-case scenario, he could even help reinvigorate that part of the offense.
One way or another, the Rams have to be willing to gamble on an imperfect player if they want to shore up their receiver corps midway through the season.
