The Kansas City Chiefs may have to find help for Patrick Mahomes somewhere other than the Tyreek Hill rumor mill, and Cleveland Browns receiver Jerry Jeudy has surfaced as a possible answer.
Hill looked like the dream scenario for Chiefs fans for a moment, but that path appears to be closing fast. On Tuesday, he was convicted of two counts of battery against his estranged spouse, which makes an NFL suspension under the Personal Conduct Policy a near certainty. There’s also the other issue hanging over him: he is still working his way back from the serious knee injury he suffered last September with the Miami Dolphins, so no one really knows when he’d be ready to return.
That leaves Kansas City with a very real wideout problem even with a 4-0 record coming out of the bye and Sunday’s matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium looming at 3:25 p.m. CT on CBS.
The Chiefs have gotten by on Andy Reid’s play-calling, Mahomes’ brilliance, Travis Kelce’s resurgence and the arrival of Kenneth Walker III in the backfield. What they haven’t gotten is much consistent production from the receiver group.
Tyquan Thornton had started to carve out a role as Mahomes’ top deep threat before a brutal ankle injury against the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 4 sent him to IR. He led the team with 19.9 yards per catch on 11 receptions and had scored two touchdowns.
Beyond him, the room has been thin. Xavier Worthy is still waiting to fully break through, even though he leads the team with 14 catches for 133 yards, a 9.5-yard average.
Rashee Rice has flashed with 13 catches for 190 yards, but injuries have kept him in and out of the lineup.
After that, the options get sparse. Jalen Royals is next in line, and his line reads just three catches for 17 yards.
That’s why the trade chatter has started to widen, with whispers not only around Hill but also around Marvin Harrison Jr., who was traded from the Arizona Cardinals to the Houston Texans. Another name now in the mix is Jeudy, a former first-round pick who may be getting squeezed out in Cleveland.
Jeudy entered the league as the No. 15 pick by the Denver Broncos in the 2020 NFL Draft and was traded to the Browns before the 2024 season after four years in Denver. He’s still only 27, and his résumé includes a strong first year in Cleveland: 90 catches for 1,229 yards.
But the production has fallen off since then. Last season, he had 50 receptions for 602 yards, and through five games in 2026 he has only eight catches for 81 yards while starting just twice.
Part of that drop can be traced to Cleveland’s young receivers. Rookie Denzel Boston and K.C.
Concepcion have combined for 34 catches and 479 yards, and Boston has been especially explosive with a league-best 20.6-yard average on his 16 receptions. Even so, Jeudy is still lagging behind Isaiah Bond in receiving yards, 86-81, despite having three more catches.
As Schultz told Polacek: "It's pretty well known around the league that Jeudy's available," "But my understanding is Cleveland would like something in that early third to fourth [round] range. I'm just not sure they'll be able to get it.
Bottom line, Jerry Jeudy's available. And he's another name I'd keep an eye on as we get closer to the deadline."
That asking price may be optimistic, especially with Jeudy’s role shrinking in Cleveland. Even so, Kansas City could be the kind of team willing to take a swing if it thinks a fifth- or sixth-round pick might buy some stability at receiver.
The trade deadline is Nov. 10, and the Chiefs are still trying to make sure their receiver depth doesn’t become the thing that drags them back down.
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