Sprout, you're simply wrong here. FWI I own Sutton in dynasty but not Jeudy.
This past season Jeudy finished the entire season as the WR21 in total points in 0.5 PPR despite playing in a mess of an offense. My league is a 12-team that you must start 3 WRs each week plus a flex (RB, WR, or TE).
From weeks 14 through 18 last year, Jerry Jeudy was the WR2 in 0.5 PPR. A strong end to the prior season doesn't necessarily correlate to a strong season the following year but it is at least promising.
Sutton, on the other hand, has done nothing to show that he is more then a WR3 in fantasy football.
Despite playing in a mess of an offense or somewhat aided by it? With an injured Javonte Williams, Tim Patrick, Hamler, and the fraudulent, oft-injured Courtland Sutton, 2022 should have represented pretty fertile ground for volume WR production for someone of Jeudy's talent regardless of how much we want to lay at the feet of Russ.
He clearly has value. Can be plugged into starting lineups as is and offers upside for the future. That said it wasn't a successful 2022 campaign for any Jeudy holder looking to realize the promise of what he offered when he entered the league. Was his 2022 far less of a disaster than it was for Sutton? Absolutely. But if that's the standard, you're setting a pretty low bar for a guy that I still think has some hope of realizing some of the draft hype.
Give him credit for finishing the year strong. My league has pretty vanilla scoring for 0.5 PPR and he finished 26th (points) & 28th (avg points) among receivers. We don't play week 18s, so I will assume that monster game was the discrepancy for your WR21. That said, buyer beware for anyone counting on a big 2023 based solely on week 14-18 performance.
Weeks 14 & 15 -- Sutton out, 76 & 73 yards receiving, but 3 TDs is 3TDs (week 14)
Week 16 - 117 yds-6 rec ....in a 14-51 loss to Rams
Week 17 - 38-7 in their "Super Bowl" loss in KC
Week 18 - torches a Chargers team locked into their playoff seed for 154-5, but they did play a lot of their starters into the 2nd half
Beats the hell out of doing nothing those weeks and cratering in dynasty like Sutton, But if Sutton is as worthless as some are suggesting, I would be cautious about propping up a Jerry Jeudy that didn't overtake Sutton until week 14 in fantasy points and week 16 in receiving yards. Back end of the '22 Broncos season did not offer a great barometer for competitive football.
You are absolutely right about start 2 WR + 1 FLEX -vs- start 3 WR + 1 FLEX having a big difference on the value of a WR like Jeudy, or even the salvage value of someone like Sutton. Start 2 WR, you're
okay with plugging in Jeudy as your flex, but that team probably isn't sniffing a championship unless they have a lot going for themselves up top. Start 3 WR, and you're now delighted to have a Jeudy level talent for your flex. I think this distinction in league setting is also very relevant to the top of this 2023 receiving class.