Woody Johnson bailed NY Jets out of potentially disastrous Jerry Jeudy trade

The NY Jets were active in their pursuit of a wide receiver this offseason, with now-former general manager Joe Douglas ultimately settling on veteran Mike Williams in free agency and Malachi Corley in the 2024 NFL Draft.

But it turns out Douglas has other plans.

As part of The Athletic's detailed report describing dysfunction within the Jets organization, headed by Woody Johnson, it was revealed that Douglas attempted to make a trade for former Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy.

Douglas reportedly intended to send Allen Lazard and a Day 2 draft pick to the Broncos in exchange for the former first-round wide receiver before Johnson nixed the idea. Jeudy would end up being traded to the Cleveland Browns for a 2024 fifth and sixth-round pick.

Johnson's abuse of power was a persistent theme in The Athletic's report, but in this specific case, he probably made the right decision. This would have been an awful trade for the Jets.

NY Jets wanted to pursue possibly disastrous trade for Jerry Jeudy

Douglas was apparently willing to pay well above market value for Jeudy, intending to trade a second or third-round pick along with Lazard for the former Alabama star. The Browns were able to land him for the small price of two mid-Day 3 picks.

The reason Jeudy, a quality NFL wide receiver at just 25 years old, was available for so cheap was his contract situation. The Browns rewarded him with a three-year, $58 million extension two days after the trade, an extension that included $41 million in guarantees.

Jeudy is a starting-caliber wide receiver, but he's not worth that type of money. Only seven wide receivers in the NFL have more guarantees on their contracts than Jeudy, and all of them received deals longer than three years.

The Florida native has hauled in 39 catches for 560 yards and two touchdowns in 2024, similar numbers to Lazard who has played three fewer games. There's just no justification for Jeudy being worth that package of assets (draft pick, Lazard, and contract).

The Jets have to worry about big-money extensions for a number of important players in the near future, including the likes of Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall, Quincy Williams, and others. They can ill afford to devote over $17 million per year to a solid WR2.

While the Williams signing and the Corley pick haven't exactly worked out as Douglas would have hoped, there's no reason to believe the Jeudy trade would have been a prudent move for the franchise.

It's never a good thing when a team owner meddles and begins to overrule their general manager, but in this case, it probably saved the Jets from themselves.

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