Jerry Jeudy — Week 2: One Target on Thirty Throws

Deshaun Watson threw 30 passes on Sunday, and one of them went to Jerry Jeudy. 16 to 16, 13 37 left in the fourth quarter, second and 13 at the Cleveland 36: short left, 10 yards in the air, incomplete. −0.9 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and Cleveland punted two plays later. That is his whole line: one target, no catches. The play-by-play carries no injury note on him.

Where the other 29 went: seven to Denzel Boston, six each to KC Concepcion and Harold Fannin, five to Quinshon Judkins, two to Blake Whiteheart, and one each to Isaiah Bond, Raheim Sanders and Jaleel McLaughlin. Among the wide receivers, Boston had 95 yards and a touchdown, Concepcion six catches, and Bond a 10-yard catch on his one target. None of Watson's nine first-half throws went to Jeudy, and one of the 21 after halftime did.

This is the week that runs against the June read, so it goes first. The preview made no call on Jeudy, and split him down the middle: the target volume, about six a game, had survived a bad season and was the part that tends to carry, while yards per target was the part least likely to repair itself. Week 1 was four targets, all before halftime, one of them intercepted, and none after the break; the thing to watch was the silent second half. It has now been six quarters. Since halftime of Week 1 Cleveland has thrown 39 passes and one has gone to Jeudy. Five targets in two games, against a read built on six a game, while the two rookies the Browns drafted in April have 11 each. Two games is two games, and a volume number can come back in one afternoon. But the half of his profile the preview trusted is the half that has gone missing. Cleveland is home to the Panthers on Sunday the 20-seventh.

_Data via nflverse._