Ahead of last week’s Thursday Night Football broadcast, Denver Broncos’ wide receiver Jerry Jeudy made some headlines for his pregame interactions with Steve Smith Sr., the NFL Network analyst. There, NFLN’s pregame coverage included Smith discussing why he called out to Jeudy and the negative response he got.
And that led to many further headlines from other figures, including Chad Johnson, discussing the Jeudy-Smith exchange. Well, now, Jeudy has weighed in himself. Here’s some of that, via Mike Klis of Denver NBC affiliate 9News:
Jeudy II: "And I would have listened to what he had to say. Where I’m from, if somebody talked bad about you, you don’t go to them in person and try to act friendly toward them … I have no hate towards Steve Smith. He was a good player. …
— Mike Klis (@mikeklis) October 19, 2023
Juedy IV: "but at the same time, I know somebody talked bad about me, I told him what it is and moved on from there. He went and took it to the media stuff and made it bigger than what it needed to be.’’ #9sports
— Mike Klis (@mikeklis) October 19, 2023
Here’s video of that, via DenverSports.com‘s Andrew Mason:
Jerry Jeudy comments on the Steve Smith situation: “… Where I’m from, we just don’t — if somebody talk bad about you, you don’t go to that other person and try to act friendly towards them like you didn’t just talk bad about them.” pic.twitter.com/evUNjMG0KX
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) October 19, 2023
For reference, here’s what Smith said on-air last week:
“I called out to him because on my podcast, Cut To It, I’ve talked about guys that have maybe not shown up in a way or in a manner. And the word that I’ve used to describe them in the past is a “JAG,” just a guy. And so when I saw him, he’s playing well, and I wanted to say to him face-to-face like ‘Hey, I know I’ve said some things in the past I probably shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry.'”
“That’s what I wanted to say to him. But his response, Mike Garafolo and Bucky [Brooks], was ‘ninja,’ I’m using the word Ninja, I’m just using the word ninja, ‘I don’t mess with you.’ And it was a curse word. And so I was like ‘All right.’ And then he repeated it.”
“So I’ll say it again. I’m sorry that I said that you’re a JAG, just a guy, who’s an average wide receiver that they used a first-round pick on that isn’t doing anything. I hope today that you actually show up in a way that you haven’t shown up in the last couple of years since they drafted you.”
“So if you’ve ever got a problem with Agent #89, I’m sorry for saying that you’re an average wide receiver that they will eventually move on from. And when teams call me and ask ‘Should they trade for you?’, I will say ‘No, don’t trade for Jerry Jeudy.'”
“Because he’s mentally unable to handle constructive criticism from people who ask specifically ‘Can he be a wide receiver?’ He can be a wide receiver, he’s a Tier 3. Go back into the studio, I’m done now.”
This wasn’t the only media discussion Jeudy got into Thursday, though. He also went after Twitter aggregator @JPAFootball for posting a shortened version of an answer he gave in an interview:
never down played my teammates and never will. So that’s a lie. Don’t try to shorten up the clip to make the story look better. https://t.co/56OPfkRzDG
— Jerry Jeudy⁴ (@jerryjeudy) October 19, 2023
That clip is the full one Mason posted. But yes, the particular quote the JPA Football account posted does seem a little more inflammatory out of its full context, as after that in the clip, Jeudy goes on to say “At the end of the day, I’ve got to do what I do.” But he does finish it with a “I think that’s what you all need to do, go watch the film instead of looking at the stats. Go watch the film and see what I do.”
This all comes around the significant context of trade discussion around Jeudy. That got brought up even this offseason, albeit with some disputation from the team’s front office. And those talks have intensified recently. With all that, it’s certainly interesting to see him chiming in on a couple of media fronts.
[Mike Klis on Twitter]
