JuJu Smith-Schuster turns down Ravens and Chiefs to stay with Steelers on 1-year deal
The Pittsburgh Steelers keep an offensive weapon in JuJu Smith-Schuster for the 2021 season.
By Jeff.Hartman@BnGBlitz Updated Mar 19, 2021, 1:30pm EDT
NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
The Pittsburgh Steelers have seen many of their free agents leave to find new homes in the NFL. Players like Bud Dupree, Tyson Alualu and Mike Hilton are all calling a new team home. But one big name had yet to sign with another team.
That name was JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The longer Smith-Schuster remained a free agent, it seemed as if the chances were greater he would potentially return to the Steelers. Low and behold, Friday afternoon Smith-Schuster decided to stay in Pittsburgh, turning down offers from the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs to do so.
This from Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network:
JuJu to the #Steelers on a 1-year worth $8M, source said. He had better offers from the #Ravens and the #Chiefs. But stays in PIT. https://t.co/Kz9aaR1srN
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 19, 2021
See what Smith-Schuster said himself on his verified Twitter account about returning:
This is my home, they’re gonna need a wrecking ball to take me outta here! PITTSBURGH I LOVE YOU, LET’S GO!!!!! pic.twitter.com/SPFvCLUmFl
— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) March 19, 2021
So what did Smith-Schuster turn down to come back to Pittsburgh? According to NFL Network’s Taylor Bisciotti, the deals were as follows:
— Taylor Bisciotti (@TaylorBisciotti) March 19, 2021
Additionally, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Eagles were also in the mix with a larger contract.
JuJu Smith-Schuster also turned down more money on a multi-year deal from the Eagles than he took to return to the Steelers, per source. The Eagles’ were a secret suitor. But Smith-Schuster loved Pittsburgh and its fans too much to leave. https://t.co/X8gitZYxwd
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 19, 2021
The return of Smith-Schuster might be viewed as him signing a one-year “prove it” type deal. With the salary cap dipping to $182.5 this year, it is safe to say Smith-Schuster is betting on himself to play well, and earn more money in 2022 when the salary cap is expected to balloon up over $200 million dollars.
In his four years in Pittsburgh, Smith-Schuster has seen his role tweaked as the wide receiver room has changed. Taking a league by storm his first two seasons, Smith-Schuster earned a Pro Bowl bid in 2018 when he had 1,426 receiving yards on 111 receptions. After an injury riddled 2019, as well as missing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Smith-Schuster led the Steelers in receptions in 2020 with 97. His 831 receiving yards last season was third on the Steelers behind Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool, and his nine receiving touchdowns was tied with Claypool.
Be sure to stay tuned to BTSC for the latest news and notes on the Steelers as [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
If you cut Clark and Hitchens which is a given at this point the Chiefs roughly have 43 million dollars of room.
The list of FAs though is very long and we will lose name guys...
Orlando Brown
Tyrann Mathieu
Jarran Reed
Melvin Ingram
Charvarious Ward
Mike Remmers
Daniel Sorensen
Byron Pringle
Chad Henne
Darrell Williams
Ben Niemann
Kyle Long
Demarcus Robinson
Blake Bell
Alex Okafor
Austin Blythe
Jerick McKinnon
Michael Burton
Derrick Nnadi
Andrew Wylie
Armani Watts
Dorian O'Daniel
Also
Lammons, Kemp, Gore and Forson are RFAs I believe.
Not all those guys are good but thats a ton of FAs and a ton of depth to have to replace in 1 year.
We currently have 22m in cap space before any moves.
Frank will be a June 1st cut, saving KC 19.5m.
Hitchens, if cut as expected, saves 8.5m
Extending Tyreek saves 12-15m.
Browns first year cap number will be 7m or less
That leaves over 50m in cap space after the Brown and Hills probable extensions.
Tyrann is 30, undersized, has injury and speed concerns and is becoming a FA in a good FA class of safeties and a nice draft class, as well.
Jaraan is also 30 and shouldn’t break the bank…though I’d count him as a priority re-sign if his cost is reasonable.
Nnadi would be nice to keep, but he’s not a guy you outbid anyone to keep.
Ingram is 33 and shouldn’t be expensive.
Ward, Pringle, Wylie, Fortson and McKinnon/Williams are the guys I’d love to have back and the rest can be replaced on the cheap or with any of our draft picks.
I honestly think we have the space to sign a premier WR to make a truly historic offense as well as bringing back anyone we want to bring back. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BossChief:
This offseason Veach will have more cap space and more draft picks than he’s had during his time in KC.
Veach won’t lose anyone he really wants to keep.
It will be nice to move on from some of those big money contracts that seem to be hurting the defense in particular.
Then again, you wonder about defense in general these days. Buffalo had the #1 defense in the league, a group that did a pretty good job in the first matchup with KC. Yet the Chiefs torched them for 550 yards and 42 points the other day. At some point you start to wonder...maybe just go all in with the offense? Load up on as much quality depth as possible with the OL, WR, RB group. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DRM08:
It will be nice to move on from some of those big money contracts that seem to be hurting the defense in particular.
Then again, you wonder about defense in general these days. Buffalo had the #1 defense in the league, a group that did a pretty good job in the first matchup with KC. Yet the Chiefs torched them for 550 yards and 42 points the other day. At some point you start to wonder...maybe just go all in with the offense? Load up on as much quality depth as possible with the OL, WR, RB group.
Originally Posted by MAHOMO 4 LIFE!:
Fuck him. I’d rather have D Rob back. He’s a team player and is a really good blocker. Plus he won’t make Tik Toks and be a distraction.
If he comes at a discount I don't set how adding him is a bad thing. He'd be a legit #2 in this offense. Can't fault him for staying with the team that drafted him for another year for familiarity sake especially if he knew it was Ben's last ride. Needs to tone down the tic tok shit though. [Reply]
Originally Posted by CapsLockKey:
If he comes at a discount I don't set how adding him is a bad thing. He'd be a legit #2 in this offense. Can't fault him for staying with the team that drafted him for another year for familiarity sake especially if he knew it was Ben's last ride. Needs to tone down the tic tok shit though.
JuJu is overhyped. When he was the true #1 on his team, he couldn’t perform. He just wants to collab with Jackson on his TikToks [Reply]
If we let Pringle and D-Rob walk...unless Powell, Fountain and others are making dramatic moves up the depth chart, we'll need WR's next year. Whether it's Chark or JuJu or someone else in that spectrum of talent that doesn't break the bank, we need to consider it...and if he's there, you absolutely take Jameson ALSO. Kelce has more life in him, but we need to start acquiring possible pass-catchers for the next wave. If we don't lose Pringle and D-Rob to FA this year and sign them to low-cost contracts, I might reconsider signing a FA WR. [Reply]
Originally Posted by MAHOMO 4 LIFE!:
JuJu is overhyped. When he was the true #1 on his team, he couldn’t perform. He just wants to collab with Jackson on his TikToks
I think you're missing that we don't need him to be a #1.
We need him to perform like he did when Brown was the #1 in Pittsburgh.
Substitute Hill for Brown and look at it again. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan:
If we let Pringle and D-Rob walk...unless Powell, Fountain and others are making dramatic moves up the depth chart, we'll need WR's next year. Whether it's Chark or JuJu or someone else in that spectrum of talent that doesn't break the bank, we need to consider it...and if he's there, you absolutely take Jameson ALSO. Kelce has more life in him, but we need to start acquiring possible pass-catchers for the next wave. If we don't lose Pringle and D-Rob to FA this year and sign them to low-cost contracts, I might reconsider signing a FA WR.
No need to let Pringle walk, and he can take D-Rob's snaps just fine. Pringle is an okay player to split #3 snaps with Hardman. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BossChief:
We currently have 22m in cap space before any moves.
Frank will be a June 1st cut, saving KC 19.5m.
Hitchens, if cut as expected, saves 8.5m
Extending Tyreek saves 12-15m.
Browns first year cap number will be 7m or less
That leaves over 50m in cap space after the Brown and Hills probable extensions.
Tyrann is 30, undersized, has injury and speed concerns and is becoming a FA in a good FA class of safeties and a nice draft class, as well.
Jaraan is also 30 and shouldn’t break the bank…though I’d count him as a priority re-sign if his cost is reasonable.
Nnadi would be nice to keep, but he’s not a guy you outbid anyone to keep.
Ingram is 33 and shouldn’t be expensive.
Ward, Pringle, Wylie, Fortson and McKinnon/Williams are the guys I’d love to have back and the rest can be replaced on the cheap or with any of our draft picks.
I honestly think we have the space to sign a premier WR to make a truly historic offense as well as bringing back anyone we want to bring back.
