The Week 6 edition of "Thursday Night Football" was highlighted by the feud between NFL Network analyst and former Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. and Denver Broncos wideout Jerry Jeudy.
Smith was critical of Jeudy, calling him "just a guy (JAG)," on his podcast, and apologized to him before the Broncos-Kansas City Chiefs game. Jeudy didn't accept it and decided to hurl insults and dance behind Smith during the pre-game broadcast on NFL Network. Smith continued his criticism of Jeudy afterward, saying that he was "an average wide receiver" and that he would tell teams interested in him not to do so.
Weeks later, Smith is in Salt Lake City for ESPN College GameDay for the Utah Utes' game against the Oregon Ducks. Smith played two seasons for the Utes in 1999-2000. Before his GameDay appearance, the former wide receiver appeared on "The Pat McAfee Show." As he walked onto the panel, Utah fans behind the crew began chanting, "F*** Jerry Jeudy."
Utah fans show support for Steve Smith with chant towards Jerry Jeudy
While Utah fans were showing Smith support over Jeudy, the former Panthers wideout wanted to put the drama to rest, apologizing once again for his comments towards the Broncos pass-catcher. Smith said his criticism of Jeudy "wasn't the best way to say it" and, "I appreciate and love the current players."
After Jeudy had danced behind Smith, the former wideout unloaded on the Broncos receiver for not living up to the hype and hoped that he would show up against the Chiefs that night.
"I hope today you actually show up in a way you haven't shown up in the last couple years since they drafted you," Smith said.
"So if you ever got a problem with 'Agent 89,' I'm sorry for saying you're an average wide receiver that they will eventually move on [from]. And when teams call me and ask if they should trade for you, I would say no, don't trade for Jerry Jeudy. Because he's mentally unable to handle constructive criticism from people who watch specifically, can he be a wide receiver? He can be a wide receiver. He's a tier three."
One week after the Week 6 game, Jeudy spoke about the Thursday night pregame drama, saying, "Where I'm from, when someone talks bad about you behind your back, don't expect to come to them in person and think everything's going to be okay."
In that game against the Chiefs, Jeudy caught 3-of-5 targets for 14 yards in the 19-8 loss. Through six games this season, Jeudy caught 25-of-34 for 286 yards and zero touchdowns.
Jeudy has been the subject of trade rumors in recent years, including ahead of this upcoming Tuesday's NFL trade deadline. It will remain to be seen if the Broncos will trade him, as The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported that the team isn't expected to have a fire sale.
While the Utes faithful showed their support for Smith, he wanted to put the Jeudy drama to rest one last time.
