The great debate: Lamb vs. Jeudy. Who is the WR1 of the 2020 class?

photo cred: jetsxfactor.com

One of the most highly debated topics over the past year is who is the better WR prospect? The 2020 WR class features two of the best prospects we have seen at the position in some time now. They are so good in fact that if you were to ask 10 people who their WR1 in this class is, it is highly likely that you would get 5 for Lamb and 5 for Jeudy. Both players have compiled incredible statistics and accolades over their time at Alabama and Oklahoma respectively.

I recently traded up to the 1.01 in my dynasty league. I am set at RB, so I want to round out my team with one of these two ultra talented, NFL ready WR’s. Lamb vs. Jeudy has been a topic I have been wrestling with for the past couple of weeks. Walk with me through this debate and I will tell you who my WR1 is in the outstanding 2020 draft class.

Lamb vs. Jeudy, Pt. 1: Measurables

Let’s start by taking a look at the player measurements:

Lamb: 6’2” / 198 lbs.

Jeudy: 6’1” / 193 lbs.

As you can see, both players fit the mold of a prototypical NFL wide receiver physically. We have all heard Lamb catching some slack for being “undersized” or “too thin”. I find it strange that we have not heard the same things said about Jeudy. These players are virtually the same height and Lamb came in heavier than Jeudy at the combine, they just carry the weight differently. Lamb likely plays around 190-195 lbs., but this is still incredibly close to Jeudy’s playing weight as well. If the weight is not a concern for Jeudy, then I cannot see how it is a concern for Lamb. Moving on.

Lamb vs. Jeudy, Pt. 2: Production

Here is a summation of both player’s college production. Both played three years of CFB and were early declares for the NFL draft. This section I am going to dive into each player’s college career.

Lamb: 173 receptions / 3,292 yards / 32 TD (Avg. 21.4)

Jeudy: 159 receptions / 2,742 yards / 26 TD (Avg. 15.1)

Jerry Jeudy:

Let’s start with Jeudy here. Jerry Jeudy played at Alabama in the big, bad SEC. Jeudy played one year with Jalen Hurts as the starter and then 2 years with Tua Tagovailoa as the starter. Tua is widely regarded as one of the best QB prospects in the past decade. Jeudy also shared the field with extraordinary WR talent like Henry Ruggs (projected 1st rounder in 2020) and Devonta Smith. Smith is returning to Alabama to play another year of CFB, but he would likely be near the top of the 2020 WR class if he had declared for the draft. Jerry Jeudy still lead this talented group of receivers in production, but with this level of talent surrounding him, other teams could NOT give Jeudy the same attention they would normally give a WR1. Alabama was rolling out a WR 1a. 1b. and 1c. every week. Combined with the accuracy and football IQ of Tua, opposing defenses just had to hope to neutralize one of these three star WRs, and they still struggled to do that. I have heard the argument that Jeudy would have had more prolific numbers if there was less talent around him. While I understand that point, I would argue that if Jeudy had less talent around him then he would have seen more defenses have their sole focus be on neutralizing HIM, not him and Ruggs and Smith and Harris etc. It was not Jeudy’s fault that he was surrounded by such talented players, he still separated himself from them by a wide margin, but it is worth noting that if opposing teams could have devoted more coverage to Jeudy, would his production be the same? Better? Worse?

Jeudy is an excellent route runner, like EXCELLENT route runner. He runs his routes with such precision and urgency, this is a skill that will allow him to be a day 1 starter in the NFL. He was very consistent because he was always open due to the separation he could create when running his routes. He is also excellent after the catch which helped bump his average yards per catch to 15.1. Jeudy was not a deep threat, he was a guy you wanted to hit every time he was open which was a lot. He will be a great pro, but there are a few things that CeeDee

Lamb does that separate him from Jeudy in my eyes.

Video credit: Hex Highlights

CeeDee Lamb:

Lamb played at Oklahoma and had the great fortune of playing with 3 Heisman finalist QB’s, 2 Heisman winners in Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. Lamb’s freshman season was much more productive that Jeudy’s (who had Hurts at QB at the time). As a true freshman, Lamb compiled 807 yards and 7 receiving TDs. His sophomore year with a new QB, Lamb dominated again (1,158/11). His junior year with yet another new QB, Lamb dominated again (1,327/14). Now I don’t want to over hype the 3 different QB’s. Lamb had 3 incredible quarterbacks. But they all had different strengths and weaknesses. Lamb adapted to all three of their play styles to maintain his effectiveness in the Oklahoma offense. Lamb’s final season at Oklahoma he had 19 more receptions than the 2nd receiver (Rambo), and Lamb was the only WR on the team to break 1,000 receiving yards. Lamb was the focal point of the passing attack, and every opposing team knew that. “But it’s the Big 12, they don’t play defense in the Big 12.” Fair point, but every team that Oklahoma matched up against knew that Lamb was the top priority, and very few teams could do anything about him. Adding on to that, Lamb beat (destroyed) multiple defenders on multiple occasions… 2-5 Big 12 defenders has to at least equal at least 1 SEC defender, right?

Lamb averaged 21.4 yards per catch. He was a threat all over the field, a true scoring threat every time he touched the ball whether it was a screen pass or a jump ball in/around the endzone. Lamb did things after that catch in 2019 that flat out didn’t make sense. Then he would do it again. Lamb is not the route runner that Jeudy is, but he still creates space in his own ways. Lamb has exceptional acceleration and will change speeds both in his routes and after the catch. After the catch he has exceptional balance and awareness. He reminds me a LOT of Alvin Kamara with the ball in his hands. Deceptively fast and very hard to tackle.

Looking through the 2019 stats, I was taken aback by a few games.. TCU, Kansas and UCLA. Lamb sort of disappeared in these games against presumably easy competition. These are three opponents you would have expected Lamb to dominate. I will admit I have not watched the game film (don’t know how :)) so I do not know why his yardage output was so low, but it is worth noting that Lamb still found the endzone in each of these games. I also want to mention the game against LSU. LSU dominated this game, like it was hard to watch, but they still struggled with Lamb. Lamb racked up 119 yards on just 4 receptions. He had a couple of really uncharacteristic drops on this game that would have resulted in huge gains. LSU clearly had a plan to contain

Lamb in this game, but Lamb still gashed the eventual national champions for over 100 yards. Lamb showed against LSU that it is almost impossible to scheme him completely out of a game.

Video credit: Hex Higlights

And the winner is?

There are not a lot of bad things to say about either of these players, it would just be nitpicky. Both are incredible prospects with bright NFL futures. Both players create separation, albeit in different ways. Jeudy with precision, Lamb with deception. I side with CeeDee Lamb because Lamb has an element to his game that Jeudy does not, or at least Jeudy has not shown it. The contested catch ability that Lamb possesses is unreal, and we have seen this ability translate to the NFL in players like Deondre Hopkins (the fun new comp for Lamb, I’m on that bandwagon too). Both players leave you scratching your head wondering “How did he do that?”. The amazing thing is, these aren’t flukes. They do it time and time again. The ‘WOW’ factor is part of their skill set, and you can’t really defend against that.

-Zack Housholder

Sources: ESPN.com / Sports-referenece.com