Joe Sargent/Getty Images Pat Freiermuth (left) of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates a touchdown with JuJu Smith-Schuster (middle) and Eric Ebron (right) on September 26, 2021.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster officially became an unrestricted free agent on Friday February 18, when his contract voided (along with the contracts of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and tight end Eric Ebron).
The contracts of Ben Roethlisberger, Eric Ebron, & JuJu Smith-Schuster officially void today, leaving behind $19.8M of dead cap to the #Steelers for 2022.
Last year the former second-round pick (USC, 2017) reached unrestricted free agency for the first time, and rejected comparable offers from the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs—as well as a multi-year deal from a “secret suitor,” the Philadelphia Eagles—to return to Pittsburgh on a one-year, $8 million contract.
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Now Smith-Schuster Wants to Play With Patrick Mahomes?
This year the buzz is that Smith-Schuster “hopes to join” the Chiefs, or if not Kansas City then perhaps the Eagles, Cowboys, Cardinals or some other new team. But on Friday, NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt named Smith-Schuster as Pittsburgh’s “must keep” free agent, calling him a “known quantity” who can “help ensure Ben Roethlisberger’s replacement is able to hit the ground running and keep Pittsburgh competitive.”
Smith-Schuster isn’t the only NFL analyst who believes Smith-Schuster is Pittsburgh’s top unrestricted free agent, as The Athletic ranked him No. 54 on its list of the Top 75 Pending UFAs, ahead of No. 73 ranked safety Terrell Edmunds, who were the only two of Pittsburgh’s 17 unrestricted free agents to make the list.
On the other hand, “the team might not be in a hurry to prioritize keeping a veteran who missed most of 2021 with injury when it’s got a gaping hole to fill at quarterback,” admits Brandt. That’s a reference to the Week 5 shoulder injury that forced Smith-Schuster to miss the remainder of the regular-season before he made a surprise return to practice and then proceeded to play in the team’s Wild Card loss to the Chiefs.
Smith-Schuster’s Lower Production Coincided With Ben Roethlisberger’s Decline
Indeed Smith-Schuster caught only 15 passes for 129 yards (8.6 yards per catch) in 2021, following a season in which he caught 97 passes for 831 yards and nine touchdowns, with the same 8.6 average yards per reception.
That pales in comparison to, say, Smith-Schuster’s second season (2018), in which he made the Pro Bowl after catching 111 passes for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns.
The promise of better performance courtesy of a more effective quarterback is why the Steelers might not want to let Smith-Schuster get away, especially to another AFC team. Never mind his popularity with the fan base, in spite of (or perhaps because of) his penchant for creating off-the-field headlines for everything from pre-game dancing to post-game celebrations to off-field stunts like the viral ‘Milk Crate Challenge’ or ‘Body Shot Challenge.’
It’s why Brandt concludes by saying, “Smith-Schuster is also perhaps the outbound Steeler with the best chance to make a real difference for Pittsburgh in 2022, if he can stay healthy and return to form,” noting that “this roster isn’t exactly doomed to the AFC North cellar, provided the right signal-caller can be located.”
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