One of my favourite targets this year in fantasy football is newly signed Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. This seems to be a popular pick across the board in the fantasy community. JuJu signed a one-year $3M contract worth up to $10.75M in bonuses per Ian Rapoport. The Chiefs went after JuJu last offseason as well but he opted to stay with the team that drafted him the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the subtraction of Tyreek Hill, I think JuJu will slot right into that number one wide receiver role in Kansas City.
JuJu has had a few mediocre years in a row now since his massive 2018 campaign. Partly to blame for his lack of production are his injuries which have piled up, while we can’t overlook bad quarterback play either. There’s plenty of questions around maturity and fit when it comes to JuJu but this is the best quarterback he’s played with in his entire career. In this high-scoring offense, I think he will return great value this season in fantasy and have a top twenty WR year.
In drafts, he’s currently going as the 34th WR off the board and is usually going in the 8th or 9th round. Needless to say if he lives up to expectations in KC that’s insane value on a mid draft selection. The Steelers clearly weren’t using him correctly when he was on the field the last few years, due in large part to Roethlisberger’s corpse throwing the ball under centre. They had him lining up in the slot as Big Ben struggled to throw the ball down the field, limiting JuJus’ chances of producing fantasy relevant statlines. If he stays healthy this year I believe he’ll reward owners as a great value pick at the end of the season.
With Tyreek Hill being traded to the Dolphins, a whooping 159 targets are up for grabs in Kansas City’s offense. And while KC brought in Marquez Valdes-Scantling and drafted rookie Skyy Moore, Juju should easily absorb a large quantity of those looks in 2022. Valdes-Scantling always has upside but has never broken out even with back-to-back MVP Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball. Without a bonafide number 1 WR this season, there’s a case to be made that JuJu is the best wideout in this Kansas wide receiver room.
At one point Juju was considered a top 10 wide receiver in redraft and dynasty leagues following his breakout year in 2018 with 111 catches, 1,426 receiving yards, and 7 touchdowns. While I don’t think he will repeat that type of year this season, I do believe he’ll put up decent numbers in this high powered offense. JuJu is on a one-year prove-it deal and I love betting on players who are in a contract year as opposed to players fresh off signing monster extensions.
-Philip O’Brien
Twitter: @bruins4life487
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution 2.0 Generic license.