JuJu Smith-Schuster is staying in Pittsburgh. Drawing limited interest, he’s agreed to a one-year deal worth $8 million, per reports.
It seems that Smith-Schuster’s only other viable option was the sign a similar contract with the division rival Ravens.
With a couple of big seasons on his resume, Smith-Schuster was probably hoping for a lot more, but Pittsburgh’s offense imploded in 2019, and he also wasn’t great this year. He caught 97 passes, but they went for only 831 yards (most were short throws around the line of scrimmage). His only two good seasons came when he was playing against defenses more concerned with Antonio Brown.
Smith-Schuster also played a role in helping to get at least two other opponents fired up with pregame antics. The Bengals were annoyed after he posted on social media a video of him dancing on the team logo on their field – they went out and upset the Steelers in a Monday night game. And some Cleveland players were miffed when Smith-Schuster said before a playoff game, “The Browns is the Browns.”
Signing a one-year contract makes sense. He’s only 24, and if he can return to being more of an elite receiver, he’ll be positioned to land that big contract next spring.
It would help his cause if they used him more on downfield routes. Too many of his catches last year were quick throws that didn’t do much damage. He averaged only 8.6 yards per catch.
The use of quick, short throws is something that’s been growing in popularity in recent years – a way to avoid sacks by getting the ball out of the quarterback’s hands before the pass rush can get there. Since the merger in 1970, only 12 times has a wide receiver caught at least 50 passes and averaged fewer than 9 yards per carry. Two thirds of those seasons have come in the last five years.
| SHORT-RANGE TARGETS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2020 | Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 54 | 409 | 7.57 | 1 |
| 2020 | Greg Ward, Phil. | 53 | 419 | 7.91 | 6 |
| 2010 | Danny Amendola, St.L. | 85 | 689 | 8.11 | 3 |
| 2009 | Andre Caldwell, Cin. | 51 | 432 | 8.47 | 3 |
| 2020 | JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 97 | 831 | 8.57 | 9 |
| 2016 | Cordarrelle Patterson, Min. | 52 | 453 | 8.71 | 2 |
| 2016 | Anquan Boldin, Det. | 67 | 584 | 8.72 | 8 |
| 2016 | Tavon Austin, LAR | 58 | 509 | 8.78 | 3 |
| 2019 | Mohamed Sanu, Atl.-N.E. | 59 | 520 | 8.81 | 2 |
| 2017 | Jarvis Landry, Mia. | 112 | 987 | 8.81 | 9 |
| 1994 | Ricky Sanders, Atl. | 67 | 599 | 8.94 | 1 |
| 2005 | Jabar Gaffney, Hou. | 55 | 492 | 8.95 | 2 |
—Ian Allan