Ascension of Jerry Jeudy justifies Browns' trade of Amari Cooper

Jerry Jeudy snapped off a 70 yard touchdown catch to add a bow on top of an already excellent revenge game versus the Denver Broncos in Week 13. He celebrated in the end zone after helping convert on a 2 point attempt after that score, asking the crowd for more boos and smiling ear to ear.

What stood out most for Cleveland Browns fans, and likely for the team itself, was just how confident Jeudy was in all of his touches on Monday night. His 70 yard TD was just one of several great gains from him, and he finished up the night with 235 receiving yards. That was good for essentially half of Jameis Winston's passing yards for the game overall, and he recorded the most receiving yards for a receiver against a former team in history.

Read more: 3 winners (and 2 losers) from Browns loss to Broncos in Week 13

These are not games we would've seen from Jeudy earlier in the season. An acquisition for the Browns to help Deshaun Watson round out his passing game, Jeudy never clicked with him to start the year. He never had more than 10 targets between Week 1 and Week 7, and only consistently started to touch 70 or more receiving yards per game with Winston under center.

How trading Amari Cooper opened the door for Jeudy at WR1

Another factor at play for Jeudy? The fact that he quickly became WR1 for the Browns over Amari Cooper once he was traded to the Buffalo Bills after Week 6. His targets only increased from there, and then replacing Watson with Winston put even more charge into the battery pack on his back this season.

Cooper was seeing the most targets prior to his trade. That wasn't amounting to much success with Watson, though, with Cooper only having one game with multiple scores and over 70 receiving yards. Jeudy had to pick up that load, regardless of how ineffective it had become.

Without the trade of Cooper, he'd likely still be WR2 in this offensive system. That's no knock on Jeudy, either. Cooper is a veteran and a reliable target now for Josh Allen in Buffalo. He could've likely played the same role for Winston as he also never clicked with Watson on the field. But, with Jeudy younger and able to make just as many athletic and huge plays as Cooper has been able to in recent memory, he's the obvious pick for the Browns to be their WR1.

From former bust to potential star receiver for Cleveland, Jeudy's just getting started with Winston and the Browns. With Cooper gone, he's been able to firmly take hold of that lead receiver role and he hasn't made the Browns regret that decision at all.

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