Packers land Broncos WR Jerry Jeudy in ESPN proposed trade
By Paul Bretl
In a recent article from Bill Barnwell of ESPN, he laid out 15 trade proposals, one of which included the Green Bay Packers landing Denver wide receiver Jerry Jeudy in exchange for Romeo Doubs and each team swapping draft picks. However, don’t expect that to actually happen.
The NFL trade deadline is just a few weeks away, fittingly on Halloween, October 31st. Below you will find the full trade proposal between the Packers and Broncos from Barnell.
Packers receive: Jerry Jeudy and 2024 fourth-round pick
Broncos receive: Romeo Doubs and 2024 second-round pick
Sure, on paper, landing a former first-round pick at receiver to help an offense that just can’t get going makes sense. In his first three seasons, Jeudy caught 61 percent of his 289 pass attempts at 14.4 yards per catch with nine touchdowns. In 2020 and 2022, he topped 100 targets in each season. This season, Jeudy has caught 17 passes for 208 yards.
Jeudy on the Packers would instantly make him the team’s most accomplished pass catcher. But like I said initially, don’t get your hopes up, especially for that trade package.
Brian Gutekunst and Green Bay made the conscious decision in the offseason that they were going to go young at the skill positions with the intent of having those receivers and tight ends grow with Jordan Love. A move like this completely contradicts that philosophical approach. I imagine that if the Packers wanted a veteran in the mix at receiver, that move would have been made months ago.
Doubs has developed a rapport with Love that was evident throughout offseason programs and training camp. Doubs is currently the Packers leading receiver with 21 catches for 228 yards and three touchdowns. For Jeudy, there would be a learning curve transitioning to a new offense, and I don’t think anyone can sit here and confidently say that his presence would provide the Green Bay offense with the immediate spark it’s looking for.
The Packers also think very highly of Doubs, making it unrealistic that they would be willing to trade him away. Over the offseason, Matt LaFleur said that Doubs has a “unique skill set,” and while adding the caveat that, of course, Doubs isn’t Davante Adams, he does have some “Davante Adams-type movement” to his game from a route running perspective.
Lastly, from a salary cap perspective, Doubs is in the second year of his rookie deal and earns just over $3 million from 2023 through 2025. Jeudy, meanwhile, is in the last year of his rookie contract and does have a fifth-year option for 2024 that falls in the $13 million range. However, if Green Bay were to make this trade, they would most likely end up extending Jeudy to avoid the $13 million cap hit and to keep him under contract long-term but have to do so in a receiver market that has exploded in the last two seasons.
Even with Aaron Rodgers’ contract off the books in 2024, the Packers still rank 20th in current available cap space–not to mention that we know how much Gutekunst values draft picks and the fact that he would have to part with a second-round pick as well in this deal just does not feel like a Packers-esque move.
I get it–the idea of adding a former first-round receiver who has found some success to this struggling Packers offense is fun. But for the reasons mentioned, it’s not realistic, especially if it includes trading away Doubs.