Jerry Jeudy is the NFL's Biggest Hater (A Very Serious Statistical Analysis)

Like any good scientist, I set out to prove my hypothesis...

Hate is a powerful motivator. And Jerry Jeudy may just be the NFL’s most powerful hater. For those that missed what may have been the most fun game of the year, Jeudy caught 9 balls for 235 yards and a TD against his former team (and a previously stout defense). He repeatedly taunted Denver fans and players throughout.

Type of stuff most of us can only dream of doing…

And to get the obvious criticisms of this article out of the way early: Yes, I am a Broncos fan. However, I’m not mad. Please don’t put in the newspaper that I got mad.

As I sat there Monday night and watched Jerry Jeudy pile on yard after yard on my Broncos defense, I was overcome with the thought that this wasn’t anywhere close to his production in Denver. He finally looked like the kid from Bama that I was so excited to see with a Bronco logo next to his name on draft night 2020.

I ran across a Skeet (boy, I still haven’t gotten used to that term) by Patrick Daugherty showing Jeudy’s production since Jameis Winston took over as the Browns QB.

Then, I wondered, how did his monster revenge night compare to his…shall we say, lackluster production in Mile High Stadium over the years? I went back and looked at all the games he ever played at Mile High, see results below:

• On Monday night alone, Jeudy gained more yards than he managed during the entire 2021 season at Mile High.

• After one game, his yardage as a Brown in Mile High is 16.5% of his production as a Bronco.

• He gained half the yardage of his best year in Mile High, 2022.

I would be willing to accept this and move on with my life if Jeudy was a player prone to big games. But he isn’t. And I’m not…

In a rage, I ran some numbers to determine how many players have gone off like this in a way that they hadn’t previously.

Since 2000, 62 players have recorded at least 200 receiving yards in a single game. Many of these names are your usual suspects: Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss, Tyreek Hill.

But I was interested in slicing this data up to make Jeudy look bad… How mediocre had these players’ other performances outside of their best game?

I originally over-complicated it with percentiles, standard deviations, other nerd stuff. But I ultimately arrived at a simple measure: what was the second best game for each of these players? Unsurprisingly, Jerry ranks near the bottom of this list with his second best game at 154 yards against a Chargers team who had a playoff spot locked up already.

I didn’t do an exhaustive analysis but as far as I can tell, none of the guys below Jeudy on this list had their monster games against their former team. Although Markus Wheaton went to college at Oregon State, so it’s possible he was motivated by a general disdain of the Pacific Northwest and decided to take it out on the Seahawks.

Like any good scientist*, I have proven my hypothesis that Jerry Jeudy is the biggest hater in the NFL — certainly this year, and maybe ever.

*What is a scientist if not a take-haver and tester? Generate better takes to begin with. You’re constantly disproving your own hypotheses and learning new stuff? Skill issue.

Mike’s Takes

Like Jerry, I was pretty bad at my first job out of college. Sweaty, anxious, bad work ethic, bad attitude…you name it, I was checking those boxes. The idea of returning to this workplace after I have gone on to learn how to do a VLookup and be like “Haha!!! Y’all should have treated me better! Look at me now!” makes no sense. I was trash. They were right to not appreciate trash.

That’s what makes no sense about Jerry’s reaction to this game. Sure, it’s fun to throw your success in people’s faces. I’m not here to poopoo that. But why are you directing it at me? Look inward. You were ass, man. We were right to rid ourselves of you.

What makes this difficult is that I genuinely love Jerry Jeudy — he is an underrated character in the NFL. Let’s look at the facts:

He wears a Star of David necklace. And gave the following explanation…

Plenty of people have tweeted dumb stuff when they were kids, but few of us have ever struck gold like this series of tweets, over multiple days, from a young Jerry:

He and Jameis may be chaotic enough to match each other’s energy and continue producing fireworks. If not on the field, then certainly in the post-game pressers. Jameis delivered the all-time funniest quote after a vintage 500 yard, 4 TD (6 if you count the ones he threw to the Broncos), 3 INT night.

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