JuJu Smith-Schuster Needs to Forget About 2019

Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster appeared on the verge of NFL stardom in his second season in 2018.

Playing with Roethlisberger, Smith-Schuster finished fifth in the league with 1,426 receiving yards and scored seven touchdowns. His 166 targets ranked fourth in the NFL. But when Roethlisberger went down in Week 2, Smith-Schuster’s production went with him.

His receiving yards in 2019 fell to 552. He was 55th in targets with 72, while the Steelers’ quarterback rating while targeting him declined from 97 in 2018 to 79.1 last season. Over his last five games, Smith-Schuster had only 109 yards combined and no touchdowns. He had one 100-yard game in 2019, compared to eight the previous year, and caught just three touchdowns after 14 over his first two seasons.

With Roethlisberger returning to the lineup, and with Smith-Schuster playing in the final year of his rookie contract, he’s due for a bounce-back season in 2020. He’ll have some help in the Steelers receiving corps. Second-year receiver Diontae Johnson eclipsed 50 yards in each of the last five games of his rookie season in 2019 with two touchdowns. The speedy receiver from Toledo led the league in average yards of separation.

The Steelers also added former Pro Bowl tight end Eric Ebron in free agency to pair with Vance McDonald. James Washington, a former second-round pick entering his third season, caught a career-high 44 passes last year with 735 yards. And the Steelers picked up Chase Claypool, a physically imposing converted tight end from Notre Dame, in the second round in April’s draft.

But it’s Smith-Schuster who is now unquestionably the leader of the ground. He just needs to play like it this season, as he did two years ago.