Jerry Jeudy making big plays, but still adjusting to reduced role with Browns

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Even though Jerry Jeudy is no longer a focal point in the Browns' passing game, he has come up with big plays in Cleveland's past two wins.

The seventh-year wide receiver had two fourth-quarter catches in last week's 13-10 win over Baltimore, including a 33-yard reception on the game-winning drive that got the Browns into field-goal range. He also had two receptions for 27 yards on the go-ahead drive in Cleveland's 27-24 victory over Pittsburgh on Oct. 1.

Jeudy received the game ball from coach Todd Monken after the win over the Ravens put the Browns at 4-2 and tied for first in the AFC North.

“It meant a lot to me and getting that win for our team. It was a big rivalry division game. So getting that win just meant a lot to everybody," Jeudy said.

Going into Sunday's game at Tennessee (1-5), Jeudy has at least three receptions in each of the past three games, but his production after six weeks is the lowest of his career. His 220 snaps are the fewest of his career through his first six games along with 12 receptions for 150 yards.

Jeudy knew during the offseason that his role was going to change after the Browns drafted K.C. Concepcion and Denzel Boston during the first two rounds. Boston took over Jeudy's starting spot as one of the outside receivers two weeks into training camp as Monken looked to line him up at various spots.

Even though Jeudy is lining up more in the slot compared to previous seasons, he is still being used nearly three-quarters of the time as an outside receiver.

“Of course, as a receiver, as a competitor, knowing the guy I am, it’s pretty frustrating not able to perform how you know you can perform,” Jeudy said before Wednesday’s practice. “I could look at it two ways. I could be that guy and just feel down on myself and just fade away from the team and fade away from the NFL, or I could just go back to the drawing board and just look at the things that I need to get better at and work on to continue to better my career.”

Even though Jeudy's impact on the field has decreased, he has been a veteran presence for Concepcion and Boston, who are among the top five in the league among rookie receivers. Concepcion is third in receptions (22) while Boston leads with 345 yards and is sixth in receptions with 17.

“He’s always doing what he’s supposed to do. Always trying to show us rookies, as in me and KC, the different types of techniques and just passing on the game to us,” Boston said. “And for him to go out there and be able to come clutch in those moments was just great. And then also just to see one of your leaders on your team get to get his. It was always just a great energy for the team.”

After Jeudy had only two catches combined the first three games, Monken has tried to get him more involved in the passing game. The win over the Ravens also showed that the Browns finally have depth at the position.

Five of Cleveland’s top six players in receptions last season were either a running back or a tight end, and the team’s 117 receptions and 1,467 receiving yards by wide receivers were last in the league.

“I mean, we’re better with Jerry than we are without Jerry. And I think we’re doing a better job of getting him involved and trying to find the places where we can use Jerry," Monken said. "And it hasn’t been easy, as I said before. But he’s handled it well the last few weeks, and you can see it with the confidence playing, the juice he has. And that’s the biggest thing, from practice to the games, carrying that over.”

The other question is if Jeudy will still be around to share in the Browns' success? Some have wondered if he could be traded before the Nov. 10 deadline if a team needs another receiver.

Jeudy was acquired from Denver in 2024 and signed a three-year extension with the Browns.

“You see it, but you can’t do nothing about it. You just continue to do what you do every day,” he said.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jerry Jeudy (3) celebrates after completing a catch during the second half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens in Cleveland, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, right, runs the ball past Baltimore Ravens safety Malaki Starks during the second half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Israeli forces detained U.S. Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander on Wednesday as he helped Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the occupied West Bank, releasing him hours later while dozens of other volunteers, including a group of American rabbis, remained in custody.

The incident was the latest in an annual olive harvest that has been marked by violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinian villagers attempting to gather their crops.

The Israeli military said the farmers and volunteers had failed to seek prior approval for the harvest and were detained “due to the security risk posed by conducting an uncoordinated harvest near an Israeli community.” It later added that it viewed “the arrival of dozens of activists as an act intended solely to provoke, which undermines the harvesting process.”

Lander is running in the Nov. 3 elections to represent a heavily Democratic New York City district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“The occupation is a crime under international law," Lander wrote on social media after he was detained. “Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.”

“These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes,” he added in a post after his release.

This year, Palestinians have been required to coordinate with the Israeli military to access more of their privately owned farmland than in previous years. The anti-settlement group Peace Now said last week that the army had expanded by nearly 30% the area of farmland that Palestinians cannot enter without prior approval, to 34 square miles (88 square kilometers). The Israeli military declined to comment on the exact figures but said Palestinian farmers must coordinate access to areas under Israeli security control.

The detained volunteers were taken to a police facility. Lander was among them but “released after it became known that he was a congressional candidate," the Israeli police said in a statement.

Israeli rights group Yesh Din and the Palestinian Farmers’ Union have said the 2026 harvest has been the most violent in recent history, with hundreds of reported thefts, clashes and arson attacks.

Much of the violence has unfolded on land outside Palestinian villages, where Palestinians have historically harvested olives and Israeli settlers have increasingly erected outposts without authorization from Israel’s government.

But there were no clashes before Israeli forces arrived Wednesday, according to Beck Strober, a spokesperson for Protect the Harvest, the advocacy group that organized the volunteers at the grove.

Jill Jacobs, one of a dozen American rabbis detained, condemned the Israeli government restricting the ability of Palestinians to harvest freely.

“The Israeli government is actively advancing the forced displacement of Palestinian communities across the West Bank, using its military to deny Palestinians access to their land and intimidate those who stand alongside them,” Jacobs, chief executive of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, said in a statement.

Lander, who was endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, defeated U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman in a primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District. The race was viewed as a referendum on the Democratic party's support for Israel. Both candidates are Jewish and have criticized Israel, but only Lander called the war in Gaza a genocide.

Lander was not the first U.S. politician detained in the West Bank this year. U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said Israeli forces detained him during a visit in July.

FILE - Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander speaks during a Get Out The Vote rally ahead of New York's primary election, June 18, 2026, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy, File)