Culture

How Ohio State won the college football offseason with a new NIL approch

Published

7 months ago

May 3, 2024

How Ohio State won the college football offseason with a new NIL approch

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Gene Smith and Ryan Day met after the season, the athletic director made it clear he was going “all in” on football. Ohio State heavily investing in football is hardly new, but after three consecutive losses to Michigan, Smith wanted to take it up a notch before retiring this summer.

Smith sketched out a long list of donors that the Buckeyes needed to call. He passed it to his sixth-year head coach.

“Ryan, you need to call these guys,” Smith recalled telling Day. “I can answer the questions, but you’re the football coach.”

The program needed some upkeep on the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and Smith expects to go to the Ohio State board in May with proposed changes before his June 30 retirement date. And whatever coaching changes Day needed to make, Smith was on board for those too. Day’s assistant salary pool is now $11.4 million, up from $9.3 million last season.

But most importantly, Ohio State needed to take a step up in the name, image and likeness realm. After taking it slow the first year or two, Smith and Ohio State more aggressively embraced NIL, with Day freed up to take a lead role.

“If I call, 99.9 percent of the time they know why I’m calling,” Smith said. “But if it’s Ryan, that’s a game-changer.”

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Most of Ohio State’s highly touted junior class returned, with the exception of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Hall Jr. Ask people around Ohio State why, and they’ll say it’s a mix of the culture, wanting to beat Michigan and competing for a national championship. After all, nobody in the junior class has beaten the Wolverines.

“I had a first- or second-round grade,” cornerback Denzel Burke said, “but at the end of the day I had no gold pants, no Big Ten, no natty, so it’s just being able to come back with my brothers and do it for the state of Ohio.”

But there’s no denying that NIL helped make it possible to retain players who might have otherwise entered the draft.

“This was the best decision for me and there’s no reason for me to rush to the league — we have NIL now,” Burke said. “We’re not worried about too many things.”

Returning for senior season

Player	Pos	Career starts	Honors
Denzel Burke	CB Advertisement	35	All-Big Ten first team
TreVeyon Henderson	RB	29 Advertisement	All-Big Ten first team
Donovan Jackson	G	26	All-Big Ten first team Advertisement
JT Tuimoloau	DE	25	All-Big Ten first team
Emeka Egbuka Advertisement	WR	22	All-Big Ten second team (2022)
Jack Sawyer	DE Advertisement	16	All-Big Ten second team
Tyleik Williams	DT	12 Advertisement	All-Big Ten second team

In addition to stars like Burke, running back TreVeyon Henderson and receiver Emeka Egbuka deciding to stay, Ohio State hit the transfer portal hard, landing one of the top portal classes in the country in the winter. The Buckeyes signed Freshman All-America safety Caleb Downs from Alabama, All-SEC running back Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss, Kansas State starting quarterback Will Howard, Alabama starting center Seth McLaughlin and the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the 2024 class in Julian Sayin, who transferred from Alabama after Nick Saban retired.

The portal success wouldn’t have happened without increased alignment at every level, from coaches to administrators to NIL collectives and donors. There’s a sense of urgency inside the program that extends to Ohio State’s primary NIL collectives, The Foundation and The 1870 Society.

The Foundation, which signed an exclusive deal with Downs and also has a deal with Howard, top-ranked 2024 signee Jeremiah Smith and many others, has raised 10 times more than what it raised at this point last year, said Brian Schottenstein, a co-founder and board member of The Foundation.

The success Ohio State is having this offseason isn’t a byproduct of just one thing or one motivating loss. It’s been constant conversations since 2021 on how Ohio State can best approach NIL, and it has the Buckeyes at the forefront of the 2024 national title conversation.

“I think this is what the country was afraid of,” said Ohio State donor Gary Marcinick, founder of the non-profit Cohesion Foundation collective.

CB Denzel Burke is a potential first-round NFL Draft pick. (Tim Heitman / USA Today)

How did Ohio State get here?

When The Foundation started as the first of Ohio State’s NIL collectives in February 2022, skepticism and confusion followed. There was a belief among many that because the Buckeyes were already one of the premier football programs, how much did they truly need NIL to compete?

Many donors didn’t know how NIL worked, either.

“The university wanted to take their time and engage in understanding the dos and don’ts before just fully supporting it, and I would’ve taken the same approach,” said former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones, a co-founder and general manager of The Foundation. “The athletic department’s job is to raise money for the university as a whole, and you don’t want to steer dollars away if things aren’t on the up and up with a program or collective.”

Much has changed in NIL in the past three years for people like Jones, who has his hands on everything The Foundation does, even in recruiting. He’s the point person for talking to players, recruits and their families about NIL contracts. Former Ohio State safety Tyvis Powell fills a similar role with The 1870 Society as the director of player engagement.

Ohio State wasn’t against paying athletes at the start — most of its players had NIL contracts with at least one of the collectives — but for a time it wasn’t willing to go all in on NIL in recruiting.

“I think anything new takes time,” Schottenstein said. “Donors might have been confused, a lot of articles made NIL scary, but when it comes down to it, it’s just marketing deals for athletes.”

Ohio State’s growth is a mix of a few things, starting with Day’s evolving focus.

Before Ohio State’s loss to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl, Day began to think about taking on more of a CEO role, stepping back from calling plays on offense. He hinted at the possibility last offseason but didn’t turn the duties over to first-year offensive coordinator Brian Hartline.

He decided this offseason, with financial backing from Smith, that he would hire an experienced offensive coordinator he could trust to call plays.

The first hire was Bill O’Brien, who lasted just three weeks before taking the head coaching job at Boston College. Then came UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, Day’s mentor, who wanted to move in the opposite direction and narrow his focus to running an offense. Now Day gets more free time to manage the big picture.

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The impact of Day’s name popping up on a donor’s phone is substantial. Even new men’s basketball coach Jake Diebler has benefitted from his growing fundraising duties.

“We have a big list of contacts, but we’ve had them make the calls because it goes further,” Schottenstein said. “It makes it more real. They can talk about the team and make the donor feel they have the inside access. … It makes them feel part of the team and it helps them want to donate because they are part of the family.”

Mark Stetson, a longtime donor who founded The 1870 Society, said getting a call from the head coach can tip the scales for a donor who may be on the fence. It’s less about Day calling and asking for money than it is him explaining to donors how NIL can impact athletes.

“I think when you are communicating with a coach you can feel the need ,and that’s where you get a lot of the positives of NIL,” Stetson said. “You go across the non-rev sports, there’s kids who work two or three jobs to be able to live, but with NIL they can focus more on athletic and academic hours. Hearing that from the coach is a direct line to see the impact.”

This isn’t the first time Day has pushed for more NIL support. In 2022, Cleveland.com reported that Day told the Columbus business community he believed it would take $13 million to keep the roster intact.

But now with some responsibilities given to Kelly, Day has ramped up his NIL fundraising efforts on a more direct, day-to-day basis.

“It’s become much more of a part of it,” Day said. “You have to be involved with that now, because fundraising has always been important, but I think now it’s even more important.”

Quinshon Judkins had two 1,000-yard seasons at Ole Miss. (Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today Network)

Can Buckeyes sustain success?

Being compliant in the NIL world takes a careful balance for football coaches and programs.

In the past, the coaching staff would have to wait for a student athlete or parent to bring up NIL and pass the prospect to the collectives, which is where Jones and Powell came in. Now, after a federal judge in Tennessee granted a preliminary injunction to prohibit the NCAA from enforcing its own rules against pay-for-play recruiting, that’s not the case.

Collectives are allowed to talk directly to recruits for the first time, simplifying the process.

“I think it makes us more powerful because we can talk to portal players when they enter,” Schottenstein said. “We couldn’t do that before, so it makes that donation even more important now because retention is important, but the transfer portal is too.”

There’s an education process that Jones enjoys when he’s talking to recruits. Both Jones and Powell are finding success in their roles because neither put together a long-term NFL career, but they have found a way to build careers off their success at Ohio State.

Powell, who was vocal about Ohio State’s struggles after the Cotton Bowl loss, has given Day credit for the changes he made on his staff and evaluating the program’s mindset around NIL.

“I challenged Ryan Day to look at his staff and figure out who is bringing something to the table and if they’re not, you have to get them out of there because you’re doing the kids a disservice,” Powell said. “I was hopeful he would make some changes and he did. They changed their approach on NIL in the offseason.”

There’s more to transferring to Ohio State than just receiving NIL money, which is something that players like Downs and Judkins have emphasized. Still, the additions of Downs, Judkins, Howard and McLaughlin were part of Ohio State’s NIL budget.

Ohio State transfer additions

Transfer	Pos	Honors/notes
Will Howard	QB Advertisement	All-Big 12 second team
Quinshon Judkins	RB	All-SEC first team
Caleb Downs Advertisement	S	SEC Freshman of the Year
Seth McLaughlin	C	25 career starts Advertisement
Julian Sayin	QB	5-star recruit in 2024

That’s not to say Ohio State just decided to pay every player a million dollars or more. Though no financial terms of NIL deals are disclosed, Powell said that Ohio State has roster construction priorities like any other team.

“If you are the No. 1 player in the country it’s easy to market and sell that, it’s easy to give them a bunch of money. But if you get these three-star kids, maybe they don’t have the big name or game, they aren’t getting a bag,” Powell said. “Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re getting a couple of dollars in their pocket, but I would not call it a bag.

“It goes off of team needs too. If you’re a premier defensive end, those go for more than a center. That’s the nature of the business. If a team needs a premier corner, then they will pay more for that guy than a defensive tackle. It reminds me of the NFL a little bit because when free agency hits, guys will overpay for that position because they need it.”

Though most of its spending goes to football, in part because of the sheer size of the roster, The Foundation has signed every player on the men’s basketball team, including the new transfer additions.

Excited to get to work on and off the field, in the Columbus community as a student-athlete partner of @TheFoundation1_
To learn more about THE Foundation and how you can support student-athletes, visit https://t.co/zKJsWeKmBC. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/5fxHp6xn8p
— Caleb Downs (@caleb_downs2) January 25, 2024

The 1870 Society has only been around since the spring of 2023, so Stetson said they don’t have a lot to compare it to, but this year’s NIL fundraising has been substantial.

“I think there’s been some real extraordinary support,” Stetson said. “There’s been a huge influx of $10 a month and the bigger ticket purchases, as well. Regardless of trending year over year the support has been incredible.”

Everything is working for Ohio State now, but there are constant conversations about what’s coming next and accounting for the possibility of donor fatigue. Stetson said that’s where creativity on part of the collectives comes into play.

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The Foundation, for a week in January, matched all donations that were made. It ended up matching the $500,000 that fans donated, which also included a donation from former quarterback C.J. Stroud. In total, The Foundation raised more than $1 million in a week. It’s now in the middle of another matching promotion, which will extend to the end of May and has raised around $220,000 as of April 30, according to Schottenstein.

But more than just asking for donations, both Ohio State collectives have hosted events with the proceeds going toward NIL. In July, The Foundation will host what it calls “The Fantasy Experience,” which will allow participants to go behind the scenes like a prospective recruit to see what goes into a game day at Ohio State, meet alumni and more. In March, The 1870 Society, with the help of the football program, sold tickets to a tour of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, which included meet-and-greets with players and coaches.

Stetson said he sees it as the collective’s job to find creative ways to raise money without always asking donors directly for money.

“It’s about creative events or opportunities for fans to get access or create new content, or being very engaged with the business community across the country, or how can we tap into what NIL is intended to be?” Stetson said. “I would hope that a donor-centric model has built a bridge and on the other side of that bridge is a more sustainable model.”

Regardless of what’s next, Ohio State is in a position to chase a national championship now with one of the best rosters in the country after watching its archrival win one last season. It happened thanks to a combination of strong recruiting, player retention and transfer portal success.

Amid the angst of losing to Michigan, Gene Smith hopes he helped put Ohio State on stable ground as former Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork gets set to take over this summer.

“Where we are with football, not winning Big Ten championships, I wanted to make sure that we did everything we could to make sure football has a real chance next year,” Smith said. “When I think about my legacy, I think about that. I hate to leave Ohio State when football is not back to winning Big Ten championships.”

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— The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel contributed to this report

(Top photo: Jason Mowry / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Culture

UCF inquires about USC coach Lincoln Riley: Sources

Published

3 hours ago

December 4, 2024

Press Room

UCF inquires about USC coach Lincoln Riley: Sources

By Bruce Feldman, Antonio Morales and Ralph Russo

UCF has inquired about the availability of USC coach Lincoln Riley as it searches for a replacement for Gus Malzahn, three people who have been privy to those conversations told The Athletic on Wednesday.

There has been no indication Riley is interested in making the move, the people said. He is three seasons into a reported 10-year contract that pays him about $10 million per year.

The people spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity because all the discussions were private and UCF was not publicly revealing details of its coaching search.

Riley’s contract is not publicly available because USC is a private school, but extracting him from Southern California — if he wanted to leave — would likely cost tens of millions of dollars for either the Trojans or the school looking to hire him away.

Representatives from UCF reached out to Riley’s representatives last weekend to inquire about his interest in making a move across the country, one source said. Any discussions about adjusting the terms of Riley’s contract would be between him and USC, sources said.

The first source added that UCF has not received any word from Riley’s camp that he is interested in leaving USC, and the school is still looking at multiple candidates to fill its head coaching vacancy.

Firing Riley, whose win total with the Trojans has decreased in each of his three seasons, would cost USC about $90 million, according to one of the sources. If Riley were to leave for another school, he would owe USC nothing. But UCF is not in position to replicate the deal Riley has at USC. Malzahn made $4 million in 2024 at UCF.

Two sources said even if Riley had an interest in making the move, it would require some payout of his current deal with USC to make up for what he would be giving up in the transition — like a professional sports trade where one team pays a chunk of a player’s remaining salary on a large contract and the receiving team picks up the rest.

Riley was hired at USC by former athletic director Mike Bohn, who resigned amid controversy in the spring of 2023. University president Carol Folt oversaw the hire as well and will retire this summer, which means two of the main parties involved in bringing Riley to USC will be gone.

Jen Cohen, the former Washington athletic director, was hired in August 2023 to lead the athletic department. She inherited Riley and his contract.

She’s in the unenviable position of having an underperforming football program but a coach who is too expensive to move on from. In the spring, Cohen navigated a delicate situation with men’s basketball coach Andy Enfield, whose tenure had run its course but his track record was too good to justify a firing. He eventually took the SMU job, and Cohen hired Eric Musselman from Arkansas to replace him.

Even with a suitor for Riley, getting out from under his deal looks more difficult.

Malzahn left UCF after four seasons as head coach to become offensive coordinator at Florida State. The Knights have gone 10-15 overall and 5-13 in league play in their first two seasons in the Big 12 after making the move from the American Athletic Conference. UCF received only a partial share of Big 12 revenue last year, about $18 million, and is scheduled to receive about $19 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

The number jumps to a full share in 2025-26, which should be about double those figures.

Riley is 25-14 at USC since being lured to Los Angeles from Oklahoma after the 2021 regular season. It was a seismic move for the Trojans, swiping away a coach who had a 55-10 record in Norman and two Heisman Trophy winners in Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

The Trojans went 11-3 in Riley’s first season with another Heisman winner in Caleb Williams, the star quarterback who followed the coach from Oklahoma to USC. But the results have been trending in the wrong direction since.

USC went 8-5 in 2023, its final season in the Pac-12, and wrapped up its first regular season in the Big Ten with a 6-6 overall record (4-5 in league play).

After the 2023 season, Riley told The Athletic that he “didn’t come here (USC) for some short-term thing and as long as SC continues to give us the support and the things we need to continue to build this, this was not a two-year rebuild.”

Recruiting hasn’t lived up to the high expectations that came with Riley’s hire. USC continues to regress on the field each season, and the program doesn’t appear to have much direction moving forward, making the outlook for Riley look hazy at best.

(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

Culture

Miami AD, ACC commissioner sound off on Canes’ exclusion from CFP field in favor of Alabama

Published

11 hours ago

December 4, 2024

Press Room

Miami AD, ACC commissioner sound off on Canes’ exclusion from CFP field in favor of Alabama

University of Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich did not hold back his disappointment upon learning that his Hurricanes were ranked No. 12 in Tuesday’s latest College Football Playoff rankings, and thus out of the 12-team field in favor of No. 11 Alabama, who earned the last at-large bid in this iteration.

Michigan AD Warde Manuel, the chair of the College Football Playoff selection committee, explained the reason Alabama was ranked ahead of Miami: The Tide are 3-1 against current Top 25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Warde also noted that Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami is 4-2.

“Really ??” Radakovich said on X on Tuesday. “What put Bama over the top of Miami for the last spot in is that Miami went 1-2 in their last 3 games (by an average of 4.5 pts, to a ranked Syracuse and (Georgia Tech) team that just took (Georgia) to 8OT). Bama went 2-1 (to 5-7 Auburn, destroyed by (Oklahoma), and beat FCS Mercer).”

Really ?? ….what put Bama over the top of Miami for the last spot in is that Miami went 1-2 in their last 3 games (by an average of 4.5 pts, to a ranked Syracuse and GT team that just took UGA to 8OT). Bama went 2-1 (to 5-7 Auburn, destroyed by OU, and beat FCS Mercer)
— Dan Radakovich (@DanRadakovich) December 4, 2024

Radakovich and football coach Mario Cristobal both pitched for the Canes’ inclusion in the 12-team field earlier Tuesday.

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ACC commissioner Jim Phillips also came to Miami’s defense: “We are certainly pleased that SMU moved up in the rankings and that the Committee continued to recognize the Mustangs’ incredible season, which should unequivocally earn them a Playoff spot, regardless of this weekend’s outcome. With that said, we are also incredibly shocked and disappointed that Miami dropped six spots to No. 12.

“Miami has more wins and fewer losses than the team directly ahead of them and a dominant victory over an SEC team whose late-season surge includes a win over No. 13 Ole Miss. Moreover, with two losses by a combined nine points — to a ranked Syracuse team and a Georgia Tech team that just took No. 5 Georgia to eight overtimes. Miami absolutely deserves better from the Committee.

“As we look ahead to the final rankings, we hope the Committee will reconsider and put a deserving Miami in the field. We will continue to look forward to this weekend, when Clemson and SMU have an opportunity to earn an ACC championship and represent the conference in the CFP.”

Miami is now projected to play against BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28. According to The Athletic’s latest projections, the Hurricanes have only an eight percent chance to make the Playoff. The field will be finalized Sunday, Dec. 8 after the FBS conference championship games.

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The case for Miami

Miami had a strong case to finish ahead of the Crimson Tide. Where Manuel and the selection committee missed the boat is by dismissing the fact that Miami’s two losses were to quality opponents. Georgia Tech finished 7-5 but took Georgia, a Playoff team and SEC finalist, to eight overtimes. Syracuse is 9-3 and No. 22 in the CFP rankings.

Two of Alabama’s three losses were to Vanderbilt (6-6) and Oklahoma (6-6). The loss to the Sooners happened just two weeks ago and was by 21 points. — Manny Navarro, Miami beat writer

The case against Miami

Miami being eliminated from CFP contention came off as a pleasant surprise after several weeks of overrating the Canes, and after Manuel seemed to telegraph that the relative weakness of Miami’s profile would not count against it.

“Teams can only play the (conference) schedule that’s in front of them,” Manuel said after last week’s rankings. “They can only play the opponents that they have. So we take the stance that we’re going to really look at these games, we’re going to look at the stats, we’re going to look at the strength of schedule, but we’re also going to look at how teams are performing against the competition that they have. From our perspective, if it was just about strength of schedule, we wouldn’t be needed.”

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In penalizing Miami, the committee thought beyond the simplicity of counting loss totals, valued good wins over “good losses” and ejected a team with a poor strength of schedule and no ranked wins. It’s not Miami’s fault that it didn’t play Clemson and SMU this season, but it’s not to Miami’s credit, either. — Joe Rexrode, college sports columnist

(Photo: Al Diaz / Miami Herald / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Culture

The Jameis Winston roller coaster was on full display in Browns’ loss to Broncos

Published

19 hours ago

December 4, 2024

Press Room

The Jameis Winston roller coaster was on full display in Browns’ loss to Broncos

DENVER — Jerry Jeudy almost got to be homecoming king.

He only slowed down Monday night to soak up the jeers of fans who once rooted for him, but the Jameis Winston roller coaster fell off the tracks with two picks in the final two minutes.

The Cleveland Browns rewrote some records but not the overall story of their disappointing season, as Winston threw for a franchise-best 497 yards and four touchdowns but also had a pair of interceptions that the host Denver Broncos returned for scores.

The Browns, no longer boring but still bad, couldn’t overcome their sloppiness and Winston’s three turnovers. Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian’s 44-yard interception return with 1:48 remaining came when the Browns were driving to set up a potential go-ahead field goal attempt.

But that Winston whiplash only led to more disappointment as the Broncos scored the final 10 points to secure a 41-32 win in a game that featured five lead changes and 163 yards worth of touchdown passes in 11 seconds in the third quarter.

The Broncos improved to 8-5 and moved a step closer to securing a playoff berth. The Browns suffered their fifth straight road loss and fell to 3-9.

“I messed it up for us in front of the whole wide world,” Winston said.

MCMILLIAN PICK-SIX TO POSSIBLY ICE IT.
📺: #CLEvsDEN on ESPN
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/byTyDJ5y47
— NFL (@NFL) December 3, 2024

Jeudy had nine receptions for 235 yards, the most yards by a receiver facing his former team in NFL history. He repeatedly sprinted past the Broncos’ secondary and also blew past his previous career-best game of 154 receiving yards in the 2022 season finale.

Winston and Jeudy connected on a 70-yard touchdown early in the third quarter to get Cleveland within three. In the fourth quarter, Jeudy joined Cincinnati Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase as the only players to post 200-yard receiving games this season. Winston bested his single-game record of 458 passing yards in 2019 and Josh McCown’s Browns record of 457 in 2015. But after the Broncos settled for a field goal and a two-point lead inside the final three minutes, the McMillian interception on a sideline route essentially ended the chances of Winston leading a comeback on his big night.

“Bad throw,” Winston said, making it clear he didn’t want to get into further details.

Despite Jeudy’s domination of multiple Denver coverages, Cleveland didn’t have him on the field when McMillian made the interception. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Jeudy was taking a play to rest. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered, but that’s the kind of strange decision — the pick occurred on the first play out of the two-minute warning — that’s been tied to this Browns team all year. In early October, Stefanski said multiple times that Deshaun Watson gave them the best chance to win, and he stuck with Watson despite the quarterback never throwing for 200 yards in a game and Cleveland never reaching 20 points in his seven starts.

Watson only threw for 421 total yards over his last three starts and only had five touchdown passes all season. Winston was a couple of decisions away from surpassing that touchdown total in one game Monday night.

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Jeudy backed up his previous statement that he’s “been open my entire career” with another explosive performance against the team that traded him to Cleveland in March.

He had just one reception in each of Watson’s last three starts. Elijah Moore and Cedric Tillman have become playmakers in the Winston-led offense, too. It’s clear that the hesitance to change quarterbacks ended any chance of the Browns salvaging this season, and what was a joyless and relatively hopeless offensive operation had its best showing Monday night with 552 yards and 28 first downs before the fun ended with Winston’s late interceptions.

The Browns got to the 2-yard line while trailing by two scores with 44 seconds remaining before Winston threw into traffic and was intercepted a third time by Cody Barton.

“I think we played our butts off all around,” Jeudy said. “We just couldn’t finish how we were supposed to. That was a great team we faced. We just got to find a way to finish.”

Moore, the intended receiver on the McMillian interception, said the Broncos cornerback undercut the route. Moore blamed himself for hesitating and not making sure he touched McMillian immediately afterward, which allowed McMillian to return to his feet and sprint for the touchdown.

Late in the first half, Nik Bonitto read Winston’s eyes on a pass that he stepped in front of and returned for a 71-yard score.

BRONCOS PICK SIX
📺: #CLEvsDEN on ESPN
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/X8eJpG9yUj
— NFL (@NFL) December 3, 2024

“I’m just praying for the Lord to deliver me from pick sixes,” Winston said.

Yes, he really said that. He really did all that, too, releasing six passes that resulted in touchdowns — four to his team and two to the Broncos. He went to Jeudy on the Browns’ first play of the night for a gain of 44 and wisely kept going back. Jeudy encouraged the home crowd to boo louder after his first reception, and after his touchdown and ensuing two-point conversion, he posed and invited the hate.

“They only boo when they know there’s something great in you,” Jeudy said.

Entering Monday night, Jeudy was 29th in the NFL with 645 receiving yards and tied for 25th at 14.3 yards per reception. Now, he’s tied with CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys for fifth with 880 receiving yards and ninth at 16.3 yards per reception.

For much of the night, it looked like Winston would also take a leap — and maybe even into Cleveland’s future plans. He carried a perfect passer rating into the second quarter. On his first two touchdowns, he showed some touch in placing the ball to different parts of the end zone where only David Njoku could get it. The second one to Njoku came late in the first half and followed Bonitto’s interception, allowing the Browns to keep it a one-score game.

Early in the third quarter, Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix threw a 93-yard touchdown strike to Marvin Mims Jr. The Browns answered on the next play with the 70-yarder from Winston to Jeudy.

Ultimately, though, keeping it close — and Winston being close to a night for the ages — ended with Cleveland doing the best it could. Even with the defense twice forcing the Broncos into second-half field goals and twice intercepting Nix, Denver got its defenders into the right places at the most crucial times.

“The team doesn’t deserve that,” Winston said. “Bad throws. I have to be better.”

(Photo: David Zalubowski / Associated Press)