According to a report from Jordan Schultz, the Kansas City Chiefs have re-signed their leading wide receiver from the 2022 season: JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver gained 933 yards and three touchdowns (plus a Super Bowl ring) during his single season in Kansas City. That allowed him to sign a three-year, $25.5 million contract with the New England Patriots the following spring.
But after coming into the year with a lingering knee injury — along with missing two games with a concussion and going on the Reserve/Injured list after an ankle injury in Week 11 — Smith-Schuster appeared in just 11 of the Patriots’ 2023 games (accumulating 29 receptions on 47 targets for 260 yards and a touchdown).
The Patriots released him on August 9.
It has been widely believed that Smith-Schuster’s next team would be able to sign him for the NFL minimum of $1.2 million for a player with seven more or more credited seasons, because he is still being paid $7 million that was guaranteed to him for this season in his New England contract. Any salary he earns elsewhere will reduce his Patriots cap hit by that amount.
We can only speculate about the rationale for this signing. Are the Chiefs concerned that their new free-agent wideout Hollywood Brown will miss more than a few games as he works back from his injury? Do they believe a multi-game suspension for wide receiver Rahee Rice is about to be announced? Do they have insufficient trust in wideouts not named Brown, Rice, Xavier Worthy or Justin Watson? Or could it be some combination of these things?
Whatever the reason, this signing is not good news for the players sitting in the back row of Kansas City’s wide receiver room.
