What the Jerry Jeudy Extension Means for other Browns WRs
Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Before the dust has even settled on the Cleveland Browns trading for Jerry Jeudy, Andrew Berry has signed the wide receiver to a three-year extension worth $58 million. The full details of the contract haven’t been released, but reports are that $41 million of the deal will be guaranteed.
After only giving up a fifth and sixth-round pick for the former first-round pick, Berry was applauded by fans for getting a potential star wide receiver at such a discount. Remember, just two years ago the Dallas Cowboys were in a tight cap situation and Berry fleeced Amari Cooper away for only a fifth-rounder.
Jeudy came to the Browns with one year left on his rookie deal, so everyone was aware that he would eventually need to be re-signed, or they traded for him to only utilize one year. I’m not saying that an extension was a bad idea, but it appears Berry overpaid for Jeudy now after previously being praised.
The stats don’t lie on Jeudy, in four seasons in the NFL, he has a total of just over 3,000 yards and 11 touchdowns. His best season by far was in 2022 when he came up just short of 1,000 yards receiving and 6 touchdowns.
None of the stat lines above will blow you away, and he was part of a few offenses with Russell Wilson that were supposed to be elite. Remember, in 2023 Jeudy was a part of the Sean Payton and Wilson combination that was supposed to go to the Super Bowl, and instead, we saw a regression.
But based on the initial details of this contract extension, Berry will be paying Jeudy almost $20 million per season which is in line with the current contracts of Tee Higgins, Mike Evans, and even Amari Cooper. All three of these players have had multiple 1,000-yard seasons and have had far more consistency.
I understand Berry having the thought process that signing him before the season hypothetically gives you an advantage. If Jeudy comes out and has a 1,200-yard season and eight touchdowns in 2024, his market could go well over $20 million per year. In that scenario with the contracts the Browns already have, there is no scenario where Jeudy would be back the next season. But has he really earned that benefit of the doubt for such a big contract?
With the extension for Jeudy, this team will be limited in what they can do next season with Cooper and Elijah Moore. Both will be out of contract and free to hit the open market. Moore was a bit of a disappointment in 2023, but if Cooper has even close to another year like he had in Cleveland in 2023, he will have a red-hot market of teams looking for his service.
We have seen the urgency all offseason to beef up this offense for Deshaun Watson headed into 2024. Not only has Berry all but gave up on Cedric Tillman and David Bell for another year by adding Jeudy, but he added a guy like Nyheim Hines who is a running back with great receiving traits catching the ball out of the backfield.
Based on everything above there is no doubt that Berry has a ton of confidence in Jeudy and believes he will outperform Moore. While that logic makes total sense, it still surprises me he didn’t even make him take a snap at training camp before giving him the big contract.
If Jeudy ends up having a breakout season, you all can point back to this article and tell me how crazy I am. But if he has anything less than 1,000 yards in this offense with the targets that should be available to him, Berry may have severely overpaid for a wide receiver who has had little to no consistency in the NFL.
Up Next