After five years in Pittsburgh, JuJu Smith-Schuster is headed to Kansas City. The 2018 Pro Bowl receiver has come to terms on a one-year, $10.75 million deal with the Chiefs, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
A free agent last offseason, Smith-Schuster turned down offers from the Chiefs and Ravens to sign a one-year deal to remain with the Steelers. Smith-Schuster's last game with the Steelers came against his new team. Roughly three months after undergoing shoulder surgery, he caught five passes in Pittsburgh's season-ending loss to the Chiefs in the wild card round.
A 2017 second-round pick out of USC, Smith-Schuster quickly burst on to the scene during his first season in Pittsburgh. After scoring eight touchdowns as a rookie, Smith-Schuster set career highs with 111 receptions for 1,426 yards during his second season. In 2020, Smith-Schuster caught a career-high nine touchdowns while helping the Steelers return to the playoffs after a two-year absence. He credited coach Mike Tomlin as one of the main reasons why he decided to stay in Pittsburgh last offseason instead of signing elsewhere.
"I love that man," Smith-Schuster said of Tomlin, who this season set an NFL record by starting his head coaching career with 15 consecutive non-losing seasons. "He was a lot of the reason why I stayed in Pittsburgh for one more year. Playing for a guy like that is someone you want to play for. He's one of those coaches that if you mess up, you don't want him to be disappointed or upset with you because you value him so much. It's kind of like you don't want to bring home bad grades because you don't want to make your parents disappointed because you care about that person so much."
Smith-Schuster will now continue his career with the Chiefs, who are looking to make it back to the Super Bowl after coming up just short in 2021.
