The first time around, JuJu Smith-Schuster was making a bet on himself. As a free agent coming off of a frustrating year affected by injury, Smith-Schuster signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in the spring of 2022 for a single season in the hopes of rebuilding his value on the open market.
The good news for Smith-Schuster is that it worked—at least in part. He garnered a three-year deal the following offseason from the New England Patriots worth up to $33 million total, and while we're all well aware by now that things did not work out well for the Pats, Smith-Schuster was at least able to pocket a solid amount of that deal before being cut loose.
These days, Smith-Schuster is back in Kansas City on another one-year deal. This time, he signed a few weeks after being released by the Patriots after playing out only one full season in Foxborough. Injuries were once again a part of the story, but even coming into a new season in '24, the Patriots had clearly decided to move on after selecting multiple rookies in the draft.
While other teams aren't quite sure how to best lean on Smith-Schuster's talents in their offensive system, the veteran receiver has found a clear home once again with the Chiefs. In a Week 5 victory over the New Orleans Saints in primetime, Smith-Schuster led the Chiefs in receiving yards with 130 after catching 7 of 8 targets. It was a very promising development for a Chiefs team that needed someone to step up in the wake of significant injuries.
Following the game, Smith-Schuster spoke glowingly about the Chiefs from every angle—even going so far as to praise the organizational culture from ushers to concession workers. The best summary, however, can be found in this short sentence from Smith-Schuster.
That sounds like a player in love with a place. And that could mean good things for the Chiefs going forward.
Health is always going to be a consideration for any team interested in employing Smith-Schuster in the future, and at this stage (and age), he's most likely going to have to settle for one-year deals from here on out. But at the very least it sounds like the Chiefs are going to have a fairly easy lead in any competition for Smith-Schuster's services—almost as if they have an unofficial team option with a known player at a position of need.
That could be a helpful development.
When the Chiefs signed Smith-Schuster back to the team only a few weeks ago, few fans could have predicted the sort of productive day he enjoyed against the Saints. He felt a bit redundant with Rice occupying the slot, and expectations were kept in check because of it—largely as tertiary (or worse) receiver in the team's offense.
That said, if Smith-Schuster can keep the chains moving this well when featured and provide this sort of reliability and security on the depth chart, then keeping him around makes a lot of sense for the Chiefs in '25. Given how Smith-Schuster talks so glowingly about being back with the Chiefs, you'd gotta believe they'll have that chance if they want it next spring.
