Would a medical issue cause Jerry Jeudy to be available to Raiders at 19?

I do not know who Natalie Egenolf is. This should not surprise you, Natalie Egenolf, and certainly not me, but I figured it should be said. It does not mean that Natalie Egenolf is incapable of reporting real news or that he can’t have a source, but I wanted to get ahead of the comments section as quickly as possible because it is also likely the first time you’ve heard of Natalie Egenolf. And now I’ve done that and now you’ve heard of Natalie Egenolf. Why did you hear of her?

On Tuesday, Natalie Egenolf, who is self-described as a “Radio & TV Personality” on her Twitter bio, with several stints in and around the NFL broadcasting world listed on her website, said that Alabama receiver Jerry Jeudy’s stock “may” drop because of undisclosed issues with one or more knees.

There have been no corroborating reports that I’ve seen as of yet, but a player falling days or even hours before the draft because of medical reports would not be new. In fact, it probably happens every year during the draft too, where medical reports that we’ve never heard of before start coming out via Mel Kiper to explain why “Player A” has not been drafted yet. It seems even more probable to happen this year because teams were not able to give medical checks to so many prospects due to the pandemic.

So could that happen to Jeudy? I mean, it could probably happen to anyone.

As of now, Jeudy is being touted as a player who will get drafted in the first half of the first round, with many mocks connecting him to the Las Vegas Raiders at pick 12. He is cited as a top-three receiver in this class next to teammate Henry Ruggs and Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb. As the draft gets closer, Lamb seems to be gaining ground up to and over Jeudy and that was without any reports about a knee injury. I’ve seen both Jeudy and Ruggs listed past the top 15, though it’s also been reported that the Denver Broncos at 15 are in love with Jeudy.

Is it possible that love for Jeudy could dissipate and that he’d be available to the Raiders at 19? And if that was the case, should they focus on another position — say Javon Kinlaw at defensive tackle, a cornerback like C.J. Henderson, or a quarterback if they had been completely enamored with one of the available options — and wait for receiver at 19, with the hopes that Jeudy was still there? And if Jeudy was still there at 19, should it be Las Vegas that ends his slide? After all, he’d be sliding for a reason and this is a class so loaded with receiver talent, how risky is it to take any player (not necessarily Jeudy, who may have had a torn meniscus in 2018 but then was dominant in 2019 anyway) at the position when you know that you could have Justin Jefferson. Or Jalen Raegor. Or K.J. Hamler. And so on?

I didn’t know who Natalie Egenolf was at the beginning of the day, but if Jerry Jeudy doesn’t go in the top 20, I think we’ll be more familiar with Natalie Egenolf by Friday.