Best 2021 NFL breakout candidate from every team

By Randy Gurzi | Jun 28, 2021

ASHBURN, VA - JUNE 02: Ryan Fitzpatrick #14 of the Washington Football Team hands the ball off to Antonio Gibson #24 of the Washington Football Team during the organized team activity at Inova Sports Performance Center on June 2, 2021 in Ashburn, Virginia. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

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Denver Broncos: Jerry Jeudy, Wide Receiver

It’s not really Jerry Jeudy’s fault that he wasn’t a breakout star as a rookie in 2020. He joined a Denver Broncos team that was supposed to be dangerous on offense since they had a strong finish to 2019 and then added Jeudy and K.J. Hamler to an offense that already had Courtland Sutton and Noah Fant.

The problem is, Sutton was injured and played in just one game meaning Jeudy was receiving all the attention from defenders every week. He also had some pretty rough quarterback play. Drew Lock took a step backward and they had to turn to Jeff Driskel for one start and Brett Rypien for another.

There was also a lost week when wide receiver Kendall Hinton had to start with all the other quarterbacks on the COVID reserve list. With all that happening, it’s a wonder that Jeudy put up the 856 yards he did as a rookie.

Looking forward to 2021, he should be able to take a step forward especially with Sutton returning to take away some of the double-teams. They also have a quarterback competition with Teddy Bridgewater coming in, but at the absolute worst, he offers a better backup for them to turn to. All that should be positive for Jeudy.

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