Browns stock report Week 2: Jerry Jeudy has been as advertised

During Week 1 of the NFL season, against the visiting Dallas Cowboys, Kevin Stefanski, Deshaun Watson, and the entire Cleveland Browns offensive line were published as individuals or groups with their stock trending down, and justly so.

Their performance was terrible; the players with rising stock were Myles Garrett, Jerry Jeudy, and Jameis Winston. On Sunday, the Browns that stepped onto the field against the Jacksonville Jaguars seemed to be an entirely different unit than one week ago.

The good news is that one player featured in last week's edition of stock up/down, returns in Week 2 with another strong performance. Unfortunately, another individual's performance on Sunday landed him on the down list for the second week in a row. Without further ado, let's dive into the list.

Stock Up: Jerry Jeudy

While most likely not a total surprise to the front office, Browns fans seemed a bit taken back when they read of Jerry Jeudy's contract extension (three years and up to $53 million) over the off-season. However, since becoming a Brown, he has proven himself worthy (as much as any offensive player currently can) of the contract.

Some of the catches on Sunday result from the chemistry built between Deshaun Watson, and himself; however, the two specific balls that Jeudy caught were impressive, and poorly thrown by Watson. Last week, I mentioned that much of the criticism in Jeudy's career has been catching the football, but through two weeks he seems to be just about the only pair of surefire hands Watson can rely on.

With the lack of production from Amari Cooper, Jeudy is establishing himself as a pure threat in the Cleveland offense. Jeudy caught five of six targets for 73 yards, and while he has never had a 1,000-yard season; 2024 may be the year he accomplishes that.

Stock Down: Amari Cooper

Typically, the heart and soul of the Browns' passing attack, Cooper has been extremely disappointing to start the 2024 season. Two weeks in a row Cooper has dropped passes that were within his reach; in week one the ball was slightly overthrown, however, this week the same over-the-shoulder pass that was right on the money bounced off Cooper's hands.

After the game, head coach Kevin Stefanksi expressed little concern for the veteran who is coming off of back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Time will tell whether or not Cooper will ring in a great game that we Browns fans have grown accustomed to. It could be the holdout, and lack of repetitions with Watson, or the rumors that he was included in a package trade deal to the San Francisco 49ers for star wideout Brandon Aiyuk.

Regardless, Cooper's stock is trending in the wrong direction after catching two balls for 16 yards against the Dallas Cowboys, and three for 11 on Sunday.

Stock Up: D'Onta Foreman

Let me start by saying that D'Onta Foreman didn't have a great day, however, what he brought to the game was just what the Browns rushing game was missing in Week 1. Stefanski's system relies on multiple runningbacks, and tight end sets to run successfully.

In Week 1, we saw Jerrome Ford often carrying the ball either back to the line of scrimmage, or for a negative play. Foreman's bruising style of running, right up the gut, and into the defensive line enabled the Browns to earn the tough third and short yardage.

With Foreman gaining the dirty yardage, Ford was able to sneak away with seven carries for 64 yards, and a nine-yard average. Cleveland's offense had a plan coming into the game that relied on Foreman running downhill, and Ford changing the pace with explosive plays, and for the most part, it worked. Foreman led all Browns running backs with 14 carries for 42 yards.

Stock Down: Greg Newsome

Greg Newsome is often seen showboating in front of the camera when an incomplete ball is thrown in his general direction. The problem is that it is typically an overthrown, underthrown, or just all-around poorly thrown football. On Sunday, Newsome was responsible for the longest play of the day; a 66-yard pass from Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence to WR Brian Thomas, Jr.

With Denzel Ward on a pitch count, and Martin Emerson Jr. getting banged up within the game, a lot more was asked of Newsome than his typical slot corner role. While the three (Newsome, Ward, and Emerson) often rotate within the slot, it's often Newsome who fills that role. It is also true that Newsome is the corner most likely to get burned in man coverage. Couple that with the fact that he was missing tackles left and right, and we can identify it just was not a great day for the Northwestern alumni.

Stock Up: Corey Bojorquez

With under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Jaguars got the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game. Browns defensive end Myles Garrett stormed around Lawrence's blind side causing him to step right into Alex Wright for the safety. Corey Bojorquez pinning the Jaguars on the two-yard line, Garrett containing the edge, and Wright shooting the gap, all combined to cover Stefanski's ill-advised third down pass play-call just moments before.

Bojorquez is putting together a Pro-Bowl-worthy season through Week 2. In Week 1, he booted the football with multiple punts over 60 yards. As a punter for Green Bay, Bojorquez booted a football over 80 yards and has on numerous occasions punted over 70 yards for the Browns. On Sunday, Bojorquez pinned the Jaguars within the 20-yard line three times. This enabled Brown's defense to go to work. The most impressive one, and the one that ultimately contributed to the Browns' sealing the game, was when Bojorquez pinned the Jaguars down at their two-yard line.

Stock Down: Kevin Stefanski

Many people are going to disagree with this, but I have stock down on Kevin Stefanski two weeks in a row. Understandably, the Browns offense played 100 times better against the Jaguars than the week previously.

However, just because we went from zero to 50, doesn't mean we're in the clear. He stated during his Week 1 interview that he wanted the Browns offense to go from good to great, not terrible to alright. The Browns' O-Line struggles continued with pre-snap penalties and Watson being pressured or hit often. His reliance on play-action thus far, without a premium running back to which he can threaten defenses, has been the biggest contributing factor to Watson getting crushed behind the line, apart from the offensive line struggles.

It seems the smartest thing he could have done, during his offensive coordinator search, would have been to sit down and watch Watson's tape from his time in Houston. Adapt the offense to your quarter of a billion-dollar QB, and hire an OC who can assist you during that transition. Rather than continuing to adjust the players to your scheme, adjust your scheme to the players, and if you're unable to do that, it's time to give away the playcalling duties and focus on managing the team.

That alone isn't enough to place Stefanski with falling stock, especially when you consider there is a new OC, a new system (supposedly), and a new OL coach. However, there were seven pre-snap penalties, most of which were illegal shifts. This means either the play design themselves are taking too long to develop or the timing within your offense is just off.

Lastly, we have to talk about the decision to throw on third down with just under two minutes remaining. The decision itself isn't terrible, it's a gamble that if completed allows you to close out the game. With that being said, you have to have a discussion with your QB about how you want to go about that.

The Jaguars had no timeouts, and there were just under two minutes remaining in the game, the worst thing you could do to your team is turn the ball over or stop the clock. Watson threw the ball out of bounds rather than take the sack and was hit while throwing which could have resulted in a turnover.

In the end, the Browns defense saved the day with a huge assist from Bojorquez, but, how many people think he was thinking safety to force the Jaguars into a TD when he called that passing play? The offense played well enough to not lose the game, but they certainly were not why the Browns came away victorious. Others will let him off the hook due to a victory, but I won't, and if this offense doesn't change in some capacity, a loss like the one we suffered against the Cowboys is in our near future.

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