The Denver Broncos got their training camp under way on Friday and if we were to pick one player who impressed the most right out of the gate it would be first-round pick Jerry Jeudy. All throughout the practice session, Twitter was lively with reports of Jeudy’s flashes in ability.
Given that fact, plenty of questions about Jeudy were up for each of the interviews after practice. It started with Head Coach Vic Fangio and what his impressions of Jeudy were after one practice session.
“Good, Jerry’s come in here and he’s got good polish as a receiver comparing him to other rookie receivers coming out of college. He runs good routes. He’s got good change of direction, good hands. It was nice to see him making a couple of plays today.”
Of those couple of plays today, here’s one.
Turning heads on Day 1. @jerryjeudy | #BroncosCamp pic.twitter.com/Hkg43anBkV
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) August 14, 2020
Jeudy played mostly against the second string in his debut, but if Friday was any clue to what Denver has in their rookie first-round pick he’ll be playing with the starters in practice at some point.
Noah Fant is already seeing how Jeudy is going to open up things for him on the offense too. When asked of his impressions, he began to think immediately of the options that will come his way when defenses are stressed by the combo of Courtland Sutton and Jeudy on the outside.
“I think Jerry had a nice day today,” Fant said. “I think he had a couple good catches. He had some good routes. He’s going to be a lot of help for us. Obviously, we have Courtland [Sutton] who’s doing big things for us. Jerry’s going to be a good addition to that. It’s good to see him obviously coming out and making some catches already and doing his thing. I’m excited for that. I think having a bunch of receivers that are good threats will open all of our tight ends up which I’m super excited about. It’ll be a good thing.”
Hopefully, Jeudy doesn’t break any literal ankles during camp, because he’s already coming close from the few video clips we’ve seen.
Extremely NSFW
— *RK (@RyanKoenigsberg) August 14, 2020
(Via @Broncos) pic.twitter.com/69mifNWIBn
As a guy from Jeudy’s alma mater of Alabama, Kareem Jackson has been watching him break ankles for several years.
“I think he did some great things today,” Jackson said. “He ran some [awesome] routes. He’s that type of player. I’ve had a chance to watch him since he was a freshman since he went to my alma mater (Alabama). That’s one of the teams I watch every Saturday. Getting a chance to watch him throughout the last couple years and see him grow as a player, to now have him now as a teammate, is exciting. I think he did some great things today and caught a few balls. It’ll be interesting to see him progress day-to-day and to see how he continues to keep up that pace throughout camp and to roll into that first game and to be a threat against some other defenses.”
Few wide receivers make an immediately impact in the NFL, but Jeudy’s ability to get separation could put him among the elite few who do.
Jerry Jeudy caught it, of course.
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) August 10, 2020
(Pic via @Broncos) pic.twitter.com/LK7K39rpWi
Jackson was asked about Jeudy’s route running and what sets him apart from most other wide receivers coming out of college. His response was enlightening.
“I think it’ll be very difficult because he has this unorthodox way of running routes,” Jackson said. “We were kind of talking about it today. He can get in and out of his breaks better than anyone I’ve ever seen before. For him to be rookie, his tempo and his routes—the way he can change pace and the way he sells things is very rare. It’s going to be a challenge for opposing defenses and guys in the secondary. For us, getting a chance to see him every day is going to help us. There’s another guy we see twice a year that kind of puts us in the mind of him in terms of getting in and out of breaks and running routes. For us to be able to see him on a day-to-day basis is going to help us. He’s going to pose a challenge for some other defenses.”
The other guy might be a comparison to Keenan Allen. If Jeudy can sell routes and fool defensive backs to create the kind of space Allen does, then Drew Lock is going to have a lot of options back there to choose from. As a fan, it’s only been one day, but I already can’t get enough Jerry Jeudy updates.