Cleveland Browns continue to burn money and extend inconsistent wide receiver

After being traded from the Denver Broncos to the Cleveland Browns, former first-round pick Jerry Jeudy signed a shockingly rich contract extension. Jeudy now sits inside the top-20 among WR contracts in terms of the average annual value. The three-year, $58 million deal he recently signed comes in at $19 million per season, which is WR1 money.

Frankly, this is a huge financial mistake and overpay for the Browns, who gave up a pair of draft picks to acquire the shifty route-runner.

Jeudy is set to enter his fifth year in the NFL, but is only going to be 25 years old. He still has youth on his side, but beyond that, he's not proven to be more than a mid-tier WR2 in the NFL. Althought that might be what the Browns need alongside Amari Cooper, the contract is simply too rich. Jeudy has never had 1,000 receiving yards in a season, and his catch percentage across his career is below 60%.

He's played just one full season in his career and has career averages of 3.7 receptions per game and 53.6 yards per game. He's also only had 11 touchdown receptions in his career across 57 games. he team already gave Deshaun Watson a fully-guaranteed contract, which has quickly turned into the worst contract in the NFL, and maybe in professional sports.

The team is in win-now mode, but there's a fine line between being aggressive in trying to win now and just being irresponsible. The trade for Jeudy was fine, as they just had to part with some late-round picks, but extending the player before even seeing him take a snap in their uniform, and extending him with this much money is just not the right move.

However, perhaps Jerry Jeudy can prove his doubters wrong. If Deshaun Watson can finally settle in as the QB in Cleveland, Jeudy may be able to settle in himself and rack up the yards and touchdowns that many thought he'd do coming out of Alabama in the 2020 NFL Draft.