5 breakout stars to watch for the Denver Broncos in 2021

On the surface, Jeudy had a somewhat disappointing rookie season in 2020 (52 receptions for 856 yards and five touchdowns. Drops were a problem, as he was credited with 12 by Pro Football Focus (second-most in the league). Drops can be subjective determination, and multiple numbers can be found for Jeudy last year, but PFF writer Anthony Treash went a little deeper to explain a bad combination (via 247 Sports).

“On top of the drops, poor quarterback play limited Jeudy’s production,” Treash wrote. “No receiver had a higher rate of their targets result in a quarterback-fault incompletion this season than the rookie. The Alabama product also racked up the most targets on which he created separation that resulted in a quarterback-fault incompletion.”

Jeudy had the sixth-most air yards in the league last year (1,536, according to Player Profiler.) He also had the second-most unrealized air yards (965),  with a top-10 ranking in deep targets among wide receivers (25; seventh) and  just 571 completed air yards (taking into account targets behind the line of scrimmage and yards after catch). Add in catchable target and target quality rates (via Player Profiler) that ranked 105th and 102nd respectively among wide receivers, and you get a lot of bad circumstance.

Jeudy ended his rookie season with his best game, five catches for 140 yards and a touchdown against Raiders in Week 17. In Week 16, he had a season-high 15 targets (with five drops, as charted by PFF). His route running acumen from his college days carried over into the NFL, so that’s not an issue. So it’s just a matter of his drop total correcting from outlier to norm, with that one especially bad game late in the season, and Lock (or whoever the quarterback is) being less scatter shot with his throws.

Jeudy is lined up for a breakout campaign in 2021. Fantasy managers should take note.