Dawgs By Nature
Glad Browns didn’t use Madden ratings to make their decision to trade for Jerry Jeudy
The Cleveland Browns have very little to celebrate in their lost 2024 NFL season but WR Jerry Jeudy is one of those things. Alongside DE Myles Garrett, who is in danger of joining a long list of Hall of Famers to not sniff a championship, Jeudy’s emergence as the Browns top wide receiver has been something exciting.
Especially after Cleveland GM Andrew Berry acquired Jeudy for picks in the fifth and sixth rounds of this year’s NFL draft. With a big revenge game against the Denver Broncos, Jeudy is climbing in Browns history.
The New York Jets could have been the team to acquire Jeudy’s services but, according to a report from The Atheltic, decided against it for the dumbest reason possible: Madden ratings:
Douglas told the Broncos that Johnson didn’t want to make the trade because the owner felt Jeudy’s player rating in “Madden NFL,” the popular video game, wasn’t high enough, according to multiple league sources.
The article also notes that Woody Johnson, the Jets owner, seems to follow decision-making advice from his teenage sons.
Imagine paying dozens of people a combination of millions of dollars and overriding their decisions based on your teenage sons and/or Madden ratings! At that point, Johnson could save himself a lot of money and get rid of most of his front office staff.
While Browns fans know the struggle of their team, the opinion of Johnson’s New York franchise seems to be much lower:
“There are organizations where it is all set up for you to win,” said a player with the team in 2023. “It feels completely different (with the Jets). It’s the most dysfunctional place imaginable.”
While less important, the note that Johnson would not allow his GM to trade the 257th pick (i.e. the “Mr Irrelevant” pick) and instead had him trade the 256th pick so they could potentially get the next Brock Purdy is hilarious and sad.
Cleveland fans will remember that owner Jimmy Haslam once noted that a homeless man convinced him to draft Johnny Manziel it seems that was more tongue in cheek than the actual reason the team made the decision.
The Jets responded, via the The Athletic, to the reporting related to the Johnson sons and Madden ratings involvement but noted that the ratings are used:
The Jets spokesperson disputed the idea that Brick and Jack’s observations impact the organization’s decision-making process. “It is used as a reference point; it is not determinative,” the spokesperson said. “It’s really sad that an adult would use a misleading anecdote about teenagers to make their father look bad. It’s ridiculous, quite honestly, the idea that this was used to influence the opinion of experienced executives.
With three different quarterbacks, Jeudy has 70 receptions for 1,052 yards and four touchdowns for the Browns in 2024.
***We know the Browns have made horrible decisions for horrible reasons, besides the Manziel...
