Ever since being selected 15th overall by Denver in April’s draft, Jerry Jeudy has been one of the most hyped-up rookies in recent Broncos history, and yet, he’s already surpassing expectations.
“We’ll say Jerry [Jeudy] is pretty good, we’ll just put it that way,” said Drew Lock when asked if Jeudy was the best route runner he had ever seen in person. “I’m not going to put anything out there and establish expectations for that young man to hold up, because I know if someone said that I was the best thrower they’d ever seen last year, I’d go into games with a little added pressure.
“But no, Jerry has been great,” Lock continued. “I think the best thing I’ve seen out of Jerry [Jeudy] is just how hard he comes out and works every day and how on top of it he is, no questions asked.”
Lock isn’t the only offensive teammate to praise Jeudy’s training camp debut, as last year’s first-round pick Noah Fant chimed in as well.
“He’s gonna be a lot of help for us,” Fant said of Jeudy. “Obviously, we already have Courtland [Sutton], that’s doing big things for us, and Jerry’s gonna be a good addition to that. So, it’s good to see him, obviously, coming out and making some catches already and doing his thing, so 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 obviously we’re excited about, so it’s going to be a good thing.”
Arguably, more importantly, Jeudy’s defensive counterparts were wowed as well by the rookie’s fast start to training camp practices.
“He can get in and out of his breaks better than anyone I’ve ever seen before,” veteran starting safety Kareem Jackson said. “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.”
That’s high praise considering Jackson’s experience in the league, but even more impressive was when he hinted at already comparing him to Keenan Allen, widely considered to be the league’s best route-runner.
“For us, getting a chance to see him every day is going to help us,” Jackson said. “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.”
Another veteran member of the Denver secondary, A.J. Bouye, also lauded Jeudy’s route-running, when asked which young Broncos receiver he most enjoyed covering.
“I’d probably say Jerry Jeudy and K.J. Hamler,” Bouye said. “Being in the league for a while, I’ve seen a lot of rookie receivers come in that seem like they don’t have it figured out, but you look at those two and you can tell that they’ve — whether it’s in the off-season or coaching they’ve had outside — they’re really polished in their routes, especially Jeudy. He never gives you the same look every time, and I’m just loving going against him because he’s going to keep me true in my technique.”
With this much buzz already circulating around Jeudy, it’s hard to not start counting down the days to his debut against the Titans now less than four weeks away.