NFL Analysis Network

How The JuJu Smith-Schuster Signing Will Impact The Kansas City Chiefs

When people think of the Kansas City Chiefs, the first thing that comes to mind is how explosive their offense is. Led by Patrick Mahomes, this unit can keep up with any in the NFL, but when taking a deeper dive, it also possesses one of its biggest weaknesses.

The Chiefs have two stars in wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce. However, beyond those two, there is a lot of inconsistency and question marks when it comes to the pass catchers.

Kansas City was lacking a true No. 2 wide receiver. When healthy, Sammy Watkins proved to be a solid one for them, but in 2021, no one stepped up in his absence following his free agency departure.

Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle had moments but did not perform consistently enough. As a result, the Chiefs dove into the free-agent market and came away with an upgrade at wide receiver.

The Chiefs agreed to a one-year deal with JuJu Smith-Schuster that was reported to be worth $10.75 million. However, the actual value of the deal is a lot lower, as he will have to hit several incentives to reach $10.75 million.

The deal has a base value of $3.25 million, $2.49 million of which is guaranteed. $7.5 million worth of incentives can get the deal over $10 million. Based on what we have seen from Smith-Schuster at times in his career, there is a chance that he hits a majority of them.

When he was playing the No. 2 role behind Antonio Brown at the start of his career, Smith-Schuster was dominant. In his first two seasons in the NFL, he caught 169 passes for 2,343 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was a star in the making and played well enough that the Steelers were comfortable to move Brown ahead of the 2019 season.

Since then, Smith-Schuster has been unable to replicate that success. Could he be better off being a No. 2 receiver? The declining play of Ben Roethlisberger and the one season in which Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges started 14 games didn’t help either.

Smith-Schuster has also suffered some injuries, but he should be 100 percent healthy at the start of the 2022 season. He was able to return for the Steelers postseason game against the Chiefs, which could only help his free agency case.

With Kansas City, Smith-Schuster should thrive behind Hill and Kelce. Teams will still be focusing all of their attention on those two, leaving plenty of advantageous situations for Smith-Schuster to take advantage of.

Settling back into a No. 2 role should help get things back on track for the former Trojan. This is a friendly passing offense for any wide receiver and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him push for 1,000 yards in this high-powered unit led by Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy.

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