Juju Smith-Schuster is back with the Chiefs. Why?
Looking at a few likely reasons Kansas City brought back their WR1 from 2022.
In an interesting bit of news with roster cutdowns looming, the Chiefs have brought back WR Juju Smith-Schuster, apparently for a very cheap price.
In case you forgot, Juju was the best wide receiver Patrick Mahomes had in 2022, managing to stay relatively healthy (something he’s struggled with) on his way to 78 catches for 933 yards. He was also able to come up big in the Super Bowl down the stretch as the Chiefs came back against the Eagles. I reviewed Juju’s film following the 2022 season to try and figure out what the Chiefs should do with him (as he was on a one-year deal), and ultimately came away thinking Kansas City would be better off spending elsewhere given his athletic limitations and injury history.
Of course, that was anticipating that Juju would get a decent-sized contract. Which is exactly what happened when he went to New England for 3 years and $25.5 million. It didn’t work out with the Patriots for a number of reasons (Juju continued to struggle with injuries and didn’t look explosive, something that’s been an issue for him for several years now despite his relative youth) and they cut him loose despite having a roster devoid of WR talent.
And now he’s back with Kansas City.
Again, the price here is one of the primary things to note, as the Chiefs get him back for virtually nothing (apparently Matt Nagy pushed for them to do so). This is a key issue in terms of asset allocation, as it alters what he needs to do to be a solid return on investment. If the Chiefs were giving him, say $8 million a year, you’d expect something quite different from what you expect from a veteran minimum guy (the type of contract generally held by guys who are special teams only).
I just wrote about what I’d do with the WR’s if I were the Chiefs (and what I thought they’d do), but Juju’s return changes things a bit. I’ve seen a lot of speculation about him being brought on board as insurance for Hollywood Brown’s injury, or in the event of a Rashee Rice suspension, or in case Xavier Worthy takes longer to catch on than they’d hope. But I think it’s important to work through exactly what skillset Juju does have (at least on tape last year) when trying to gauge what expectations to place on him, if any.
First of all, it’s worth noting that Juju was only able to haul in 29 catches for 260 yards last year while struggling to stay healthy. So expectations should be tapered accordingly. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have a useful skillset in spots, especially for the Chiefs (the Patriots offense was an unmitigated disaster last season). In small doses, there’s a role in KC for that skillset.
(Juju is at the top of the screen in the below clip)
Let’s talk a little bit about what the possibilities are for Juju’s return, what I think the team is thinking in terms of role/usage (which barring a miracle will be significantly less than 2022), how he could help raise the floor of the offense a bit even in a limited role, and what effect it might have on the WR group as a whole.