The Most Intriguing Debate In The NFL Draft: CeeDee Lamb Vs. Jerry Jeudy
What do I love about drafts the most? Buddy,,, the takes. The sweet, sweet takes. Takes before the draft, takes during the draft, people holding on to their terrible takes years after the draft grasping at every straw they can get their mitts on, retroactive takes like Chad Ford, all of the takes are good, to me. Usually the strongest takes in the NFL Draft are found with the quarterback but this year is different. Joe Burrow is beloved by all. Tua was beloved but his knee exploded and no one really knows what to do with that information. I don't even think Oregon fans like Herbert. Nobody watches Utah State football and if you say you do you're a goddamn liar. So where this year lacks in quarterback takes and arguments, wide receivers have risen to the task. And I'll be honest, I like this discourse a helluva lot more. Everyone pretty much agrees these guys are nasty and will both go on to have All Pro caliber careers. Which makes it a choice of preference. So I've tasked myself with breaking this proverbial tie and choosing a winner right here right now by using my keen scouting eye to pick apart the traits your traditional evaluators may have overlooked.
Name
You cannot, CAN NOT, be an elite wide receiver in this NFL without a fire name. Go ahead and name one. I'll wait. You could argue a lot of these guys had their careers decided for them as their mothers were filling out their birth certificates 20 years ago. Well as is such with the rest of their on the field production, this is a toss up. Both have incredible names. CeeDee Lamb and Jerry Jeudy? Unbelievable receiver names. I'm starting to lean with CeeDee Lamb on this only because I can tweet, "More like TD Lamb," whenever he scores a touchdown, but this is as close as they come.
Advantage: Draw
Did He Play In The SEC?
Jeudy gets the win here as Oklahoma is very much not an SEC program. As massive a red flag as there will ever be. Anyone who is anyone knows the SEC is the only conference that matters, and Lamb should have thought about that when he was committing to go play against Kansas every year. Sure, Jeudy played on an All Star team, was surrounded by several players that will also be selected within minutes of himself, but Lamb wasn't playing with scrubs either. His QB last year went first overall after winning the Heisman, he played opposite a first round WR last season, his coach has NFL teams stalking his every move in hopes of luring him away from Oklahoma, and his QB this season was a Heisman finalist who will make a decent practice squad WR some day. Not the most different of circumstances while also being the most different of circumstances considering only one of those scenarios played against SEC footbaw.
Advantage: Jerry Jeudy
Hometown
Much like the name, where your from says a lot about what kind of NFL player you will be. Not a ton of wide receivers getting drafted out of Vermont these days. Or any days, for that matter. Really anywhere in the southeast I'll take a player regardless of position. Texas and Southern California, obviously. The midwest, naturally. And, for reasons I don't think anyone really understands: Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.
Jerry Jeudy is from Florida, a breeding ground for NFL talent. Doesn't get much stronger than that.
CeeDee Lamb was born in Louisiana but, BUT, he was forced to move to Texas because of Katrina. Meaning he has Louisiana AND Texas football in his veins. A lethal combination that most certainly gives him the edge in this category.
Advantage: CeeDee Lamb
FINAL VERDICT
Neither of them have a high school mixtape on the level of Henry Ruggs III. You're telling me I can draft Tyreek Hill without the whole "him being a terrible person" baggage attached??? Sure, Jeudy might be the most precise route runner we've seen in ages and Lamb is what you'd make in a lab if you were crafting the perfect wide receiver. But did either of them ever kill a man with a dunk before? Didn't think so.