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Jack Camenzind examines the fantasy football impact of WR Juju Smith-Schuster signing with the Kansas City Chiefs and the impact of the Tyreek Hill trade.
Heading into the offseason, the Kansas City Chiefs have been a bit strapped for cash with Patrick Mahomes’ mega-deal taking up a large portion of their payroll. In an attempt to create wiggle room, Kansas City managed to restructure the contracts of Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and Frank Clark.
Thanks to those restructured contracts, the Chiefs finally created enough cap space to make the notable signing that their fans have been clamoring for. While the Chiefs’ AFC West counterparts have been dominating the offseason, Kansas City managed to snag JuJu Smith-Schuster on a one-year deal. The deal was reported to be north of $10 million for the year but a little digging from Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk has proven most of that money is in the form of incentives.
The longtime Pittsburgh Steeler was set to be the number two wide receiver next to Tyreek Hill but now everything has changed with Hill's shocking trade to Miami and the team signing Marquez Valdes-Scantling to replace him. What does this move mean for JuJu’s fantasy value now that he’ll be catching passes from Patrick Mahomes rather than an aging Ben Roethlisberger?
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Finally a Real WR2 in Kansas City?
Big surprise, the Chiefs’ offense is still elite. With Patrick Mahomes manning the helm, the potential for players that enter this offense is pretty much endless. That being said, Kansas City has leaned heavily on the talent of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce during their run of dominance without much noticeable production from other playmakers.
In the four years that Patrick Mahomes has been quarterbacking this offense, the WR2 position has been a revolving door. Players like Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, and Byron Pringle have all had their respective “flash in the pan” performances, but none of them have been able to stick as a true threat.
JuJu has a strong track record as a WR2 behind a superstar wideout. For his first two years in the league, Smith-Schuster played next to arguably the greatest receiver in the league at that point in Antonio Brown. While the falling out of that situation was less than pretty, there is no question that JuJu was at his most productive during that stretch.
| Year | Age | Tm | Pos | No. | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | 1D | Lng | R/G | Y/G | Ctch% | Y/Tgt | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 21 | PIT | wr | 19 | 14 | 7 | 79 | 58 | 917 | 15.8 | 7 | 37 | 97 | 4.1 | 65.5 | 73.4% | 11.6 | |
| 2018* | 22 | PIT | WR | 19 | 16 | 13 | 166 | 111 | 1426 | 12.8 | 7 | 67 | 97 | 6.9 | 89.1 | 66.9% | 8.6 | PB |
Will JuJu return to his previous form?
While JuJu’s first two years in the league provided plenty of excitement for his potential, the next three were beyond disappointing. After the departure of Antonio Brown, Smith-Schuster was expected to take a leap into WR1 territory. Instead, he ended up falling to the WR3 on his own team. Diontae Johnson blossomed into the player that fans had hoped JuJu would and the emergence of Chase Claypool pushed him further down the pecking order.
Through a combined 17 missed games, a considerable drop-off in usage, and the arrival of two more effective receivers in Pittsburgh, JuJu has become a shell of what people thought he could develop into.
| Year | Age | Tm | Pos | No. | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | 1D | Lng | R/G | Y/G | Ctch% | Y/Tgt | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 23 | PIT | WR | 19 | 12 | 12 | 70 | 42 | 552 | 13.1 | 3 | 23 | 76 | 3.5 | 46.0 | 60.0% | 7.9 | |
| 2020 | 24 | PIT | WR | 19 | 16 | 14 | 128 | 97 | 831 | 8.6 | 9 | 48 | 31 | 6.1 | 51.9 | 75.8% | 6.5 | |
| 2021 | 25 | PIT | 19 | 5 | 5 | 28 | 15 | 129 | 8.6 | 0 | 6 | 24 | 3.0 | 25.8 | 53.6% | 4.6 |
But despite the sluggish fall off, JuJu has a real chance to revive his career in an offense that can turn coal into diamonds. As mentioned above, JuJu has shown the ability to produce when a majority of attention is being paid to more dynamic receivers. The Chiefs had that with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce but now Hill's spot has been replaced by MVS, who is fast but perhaps not quite as dynamic. Smith-Schuster will be available for shorter targets that can create strong chunks of yardage after the catch but he'll get more defensive attention now.
Still, if there were any team in the league that could bring JuJu out of this three-year rut, it's Kansas City. Playing with a quarterback like Mahomes in a pass-happy offense rather than a dead-armed Big Ben on the verge of retirement could easily resurrect his career.
What is JuJu’s fantasy value?
Without taking into account the cringy TikToks that are unfortunately coming soon, the addition of JuJu to the Kansas City offense greatly boosts his fantasy value in all formats.
The sheer potential a receiver has in a Patrick Mahomes-led offense is fantastic and Smith-Schuster should fill the hole of WR2 that this offense has been searching for. We’ve seen receivers have spurts of success in this offense but none are on the level of JuJu.
Keep in mind that JuJu is also only 25-years-old. While it feels like he’s been in the NFL forever now, he’s actually the same age as most players drafted in 2019 even though he entered the league in 2017. With his age taken into account, his career is far from over. There is still plenty of time for some rejuvenation of his game and there’s no better place for that to happen than in Kansas City.
JuJu Smith-Schuster should be viewed as a WR3 heading into the 2022 season but with the potential to outperform that range. In Dynasty formats, I’d put him ahead of players like Hunter Renfrow, Michael Gallup, and Allen Robinson based on his age and previous success in a situation similar to the one he is entering now.
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