Todd Monken didn’t exactly leave much room for mystery after the Browns’ latest escape job.
In the aftermath of Cleveland’s 13-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens, the head coach’s comments made the team’s thinking on Jerry Jeudy pretty clear. Trade buzz has been hanging around the veteran receiver, but after what he just did in a comeback win, moving him sounds a lot less appealing.
Jeudy was one of the biggest reasons the Browns climbed out of a 10-point hole in the third quarter. He finished with four catches on four targets for a team-high 69 yards, and the biggest one came when Cleveland needed it most: a 33-yard grab on third-and-5 in the final minute to help lock down the victory.
Monken didn’t sound like a coach ready to wave goodbye to his longest-tenured wideout before next month’s trade deadline.
“We’re better on offense when Jerry’s a part of it, and I can certainly do a better job of incorporating him in it,” Monken said. “You can see a difference in his juice in practice and on the field. And that credit goes to him, and his decision to, ‘Alright this is where it’s at, I’m going all-in.’”
That performance followed another timely showing from Jeudy. Against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 1, he came through with a flurry of important catches late in a 27-24 win. With Sunday’s result, the Browns are now 2-0 against AFC North teams, and Jeudy has been central in both of those finishes.
He entered training camp as Cleveland’s No. 1 receiver, and general manager Andrew Berry even labeled him the team’s bell-cow. But Monken said after the Steelers win that Jeudy had been moved down the pecking order and is now working behind rookies Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion.
Still, Monken pushed back hard on the idea that Jeudy is disengaged or mailing it in.
“As a man, he said, ‘I’m gonna battle, and I’m gonna fight, and I want to be a part of this team and I want to help make plays,’” Monken said. “And it builds confidence for us to continue to play him, and he made a bunch of plays.
He’s working every day at catching the ball. You can see a difference in that.
And like I said, we’re better on offense when we’re able to utilize Jerry in terms of what he can bring with his explosiveness.”
The numbers on the season haven’t popped for Jeudy, but the moments have started to pile up. And for a Browns offense that has often looked stuck, those moments matter.
That’s part of why the idea of dealing him for a Day 3 draft pick feels thin right now. Cleveland is 4-2, has a matchup with the struggling Tennessee Titans coming up next at 1-5, and the schedule lines up well after that. The Browns also have one of the most favorable stretches in football, including a long run of home games between Weeks 10 and 14.
At home, they’ve already gone 3-0, beating the Panthers, Steelers, and Ravens, who have combined for an 11-6 record.
Cleveland also keeps finding ways to win despite missing pieces. Sunday came without defensive tackle Mason Graham and running back Quinshon Judkins, and the week before the Browns lost Concepcion to a scary concussion.
Even with all that, the team keeps surviving. And Jeudy, for now, looks like part of the reason why. Monken has already promised to get him more involved, and based on the way Sunday ended, that sounds a lot more practical than any trade rumor floating around online.
In Other News...
Browns-Ravens Just Got Bigger For Cleveland Than Fans Wanted
Sunday in Cleveland already had enough weight on it, with the Browns set to host the Ravens in a matchup that could vault them into first place in the AFC North. Add in the backdrop of a possible Guardians clincher later in the day, with Game 5 of the American League Championship Series carrying World Series stakes, and the city could be staring at one of those rare sports days that feels bigger than the calendar.
For the Browns, though, the focus remains less on the mood around town and more on the uncertainty inside their own building. Injury concerns and quarterback questions have hovered over the lead-up to Baltimore, leaving Cleveland to sort through the kind of pregame uneasiness that can make a division showdown feel even heavier than it already does. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Suddenly Have A Quinshon Judkins Problem Before Ravens Game
Quinshon Judkins gave the Browns a better Friday than they had earlier in the week, returning to practice after missing the first part of the week with an ankle injury. He is listed as questionable for Week 6 against the Ravens, but the late-week return at least kept Cleveland from fully bracing for a backfield without its lead runner.
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Browns Face A Ravens Defense That Suddenly Looks Much Harder To Solve
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For the Browns, the challenge is not just the overall improvement but the specific pieces making it work, including players like Vega Ioane and Tavius Robinson. If Baltimore keeps playing with that kind of edge, Cleveland is going to need a cleaner offensive plan than the one most teams have been able to survive with lately, and this one feels like it could become a test of how far the Browns can push a defense that suddenly looks much harder to solve. [Read more 🡒]