Getty Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones.
With Amari Cooper’s future in doubt and Michael Gallup heading to the open market, the Dallas Cowboys likely will look to solidify their receiving corps in the weeks ahead.
One potential addition is soon-to-be-former Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who openly campaigned to leave the Steel City for the Lone Star State, where he would join forces with a “great quarterback” in Dak Prescott.
“Catching balls from him in a facility like this, I wouldn’t mind it. … The Steelers are still working on trying to get out of the wooden locker rooms,” Smith-Schuster said at a public event on Wednesday, February 2, via the Dallas Morning News’ Michael Gehlken.
Smith-Schuster, like Gallup (and fellow Cowboys WR Cedrick Wilson), is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on March 16. Unlike Gallup, however, the 25-year-old shouldn’t command more than a short-term, incentive-laden contract — much to the relief of the Cowboys, who enter the offseason roughly $21.6 million over the 2022 salary cap.
Yet, apparently, hellbent on replenishing Prescott’s, their biggest investment’s, offensive war chest.
“That’s the tough part of our business,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on Tuesday, February 1, via Pro Football Talk. “As much as we respect these men, they also know that we’ve got to run a business. There’s only so much to go around. And we’ve been saying that since day one. But the right guy has the money right now and that’s No. 4 and from there we’ve got to put the right pieces around him.”
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Background on JuJu
A 2017 second-round draft pick, the USC product has hauled in 323 catches for 3,855 yards, and 26 touchdowns across 63 career games (51 starts) in Pittsburgh. Smith-Schuster enjoyed a phenomenal 2018 season that put him on the league map, recording 1,426 receiving yards on 111 grabs en route to Pro Bowl honors.
But he’s hit a sharp downturn since that breakout point, largely marred by injuries and a slow-dripping phasing-out within the Steelers’ offense. Although Smith-Schuster made 97 catches in 2020, he appeared in only five games last year due to a severe shoulder ailment.
This will be Smith-Schuster’s second bite at the proverbial apple, after failing to land a lucrative contract during 2021 free agency. He instead returned to Pittsburgh on a one-year, $8 million commitment, which included $7 million guaranteed.
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Like Father, Like Son
Following Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ critical remarks of the team’s star wideout, Cooper, he of the $100 million megadeal, Stephen Jones echoed his father’s pointed stance, expressing frustration with the four-time Pro Bowler who totaled a relatively-low 865 yards on 68 receptions in 2021.
“Well, it’s sometimes not all on the receiver too. It’s scheme. It’s getting the receiver the ball, the touches, the targets that he needs. But if you’re gonna pay somebody a lot of money, you want them to be the best at what they do,” Stephen Jones said Tuesday, February 1, via Pro Football Talk. “Whether that’s catching, whether that’s yards, whether that’s receptions, whether that’s touchdowns, whether that’s throwing touchdown passes. Winning football games if you’re a quarterback. Whether it’s a running back if you’re getting your touches and you’re scoring touchdowns and you’re running for yards.
“I mean all those things. Your pass rushers you want to be getting pressures and making plays. I mean, all those things relate to how a guy’s paid and once you pay that player a lot of money then with that comes high expectations. And they know that. These players know that.”