3 potential landing spots for JuJu Smith-Schuster

Where could Steelers fan-favorite JuJu Smith-Schuster end up via free agency?

Not that we thought it would be any different, but it’s looking more and more like JuJu Smith-Schuster will be taking a hike during the NFL free agency period that starts on March 17 at 4 p.m. ET.

Below is a list of spots where Smith-Schuster could end up.

What would it cost the Steelers to franchise tag WR JuJu Smith-Schuster?

JuJu Smith-Schuster’s fate as a Steeler is a hot topic of debate. Here’s what it would cost the team to tag him.

Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is a priority free agent, and it sounds like he wants to stay in Pittsburgh. An option to keep him around is the franchise tag.

For those who don’t know, the franchise tag is a designation a team may apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. It’s a one-year deal that essentially gives teams more time to negotiate a long-term contract with the player they feel will be vital for their franchise’s future.

I can’t speak for general manager Kevin Colbert and company, but as good as Smith-Schuster is, he’s: 1) Not elite and 2) Expendable.

But since JuJu’s fate in Pittsburgh is a hot topic of debate, let’s take a quick look at what it would cost the Steelers if they did tag him.

The final salary-cap figure determines tenders per position. Since that number is still unknown, tag values below are estimated on a $180 million cap.

Courtesy of OverTheCap.com

The figure to place the franchise tag on Smith-Schuster is $16.43 — slightly higher than Spotrac’s predicted annual valuation of $16.1 million.

The transition tag is a bit more complicated and not as common of a designation. Here’s the gist of it, as explained by Kevin Patra from Around the NFL.

The transition designation is a one-year tender offer for the average of the top 10 salaries at the position — as opposed to top five for the franchise tag. It guarantees the original club the right of first refusal to match any offer the player might receive from another club. The tagging team is awarded no compensation if it chooses not to match a deal. The transition tag is generally a placeholder giving the club the ability to match any contract the player negotiations with another team.

It’s more than likely that Smith-Schuster will be wearing another team’s uniform in 2021, as the Steelers haven’t once tagged a wide receiver since it became a thing in 1994. Pittsburgh also rarely offers second contracts to receivers (and they would’ve done so by now).

The window to use this designation closes in a week, on March 9.

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Bengals’ Vonn Bell’s hit on JuJu Smith-Schuster more about revenge than TikTok dances

Three seasons later, anger still festers in some Bengals players’ minds, and they thought Smith-Schuster should know. 

It’s clear the Cincinnati Bengals were the hungrier team on Monday night. They were more physical in all aspects of the game, especially on defense.

The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2002, revealed in a tweet on Tuesday that his source said the “Bengals went into the game wanting to put some big hits” on Smith-Schuster.

Did they ever!

Bengals safety Vonn Bell blasted Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster late in the first quarter. The hit jarred the ball loose from JuJu’s arms, linebacker Jordan Evans recovered, and three minutes later, Cincinnati scored its first touchdown of the night.

The hit that rocked JuJu wasn’t payback for dancing and spiking the ball on the Bengals logo during pregame warm-ups as much as it was avenging the crackback block Smith-Schuster put on linebacker Vontaze Burfict in 2017.

Smith-Schuster received a one-game suspension for hitting and taunting Burfict, which he appealed and lost.

Three seasons later, anger still festers in some Bengals players’ minds, and they thought Smith-Schuster should know.

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JuJu Smith-Schuster cares more about his brand than the game

The receiver’s logo dancing has become a distraction during a time when he (and the team) needs to focus most.

There are two sides of the JuJu Smith-Schuster logo dancing coin: the winning side and the losing side. The winning side where no one cared, including the Steelers opponents. The losing side, Weeks 14 and 15, Buffalo and Cincinnati, where fans and opponents were fired up.

JuJu said he’s been dancing on opponents’ midfield logos since midseason — heck, he even dances on the Steelers logo. But it never became a thing until the Bills made it a thing. Once the Bills made it a thing, every media outlet ran with it.

Along with the two-sided coin, there are two camps: the camp that cares and the camp that doesn’t. The older generations of Steelers fans don’t know what TikTok is and, if they do, it’s only because of the media — they don’t like TikTok or JuJu’s dancing. To that, the response was simple. Don’t watch. There are far worse things in this word than JuJu dancing on TikTok to get all up in your feels about.

The camp of those who do. not. care. that JuJu dances on logos realize he’s a 24-year-old “kid” who plays video games in his jammies when he’s not working. Posting videos to millions of followers on TikTok is what kids do, and, most importantly, it has no bearing on wins or losses.

But the bottom line here is, his pregame antics have become a distraction. Once it became a distraction, JuJu had two choices: Focus his actions in-game and make plays, or focus on his actions on brand-building and dance on the Bengals logo. He chose the latter. He also finished the game with three catches (six targets) for 15 yards and a fumble that set up a Bengals touchdown.

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Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster sees no need to change offense

Defenses have figured out the predictable Steelers offense, but Smith-Schuster seems OK with that.

Maybe JuJu Smith-Schuster didn’t have his bowl of Jumpin’ JuJu Crunch this morning.

In an early press conference on Thursday, the receiver was asked if he suggests changes to the offense, one that has been slipping in recent weeks.

“We’re 11-1. What we have in the kitchen that’s cooking is really good,” said Smith-Schuster.

Um… what?

Surely, he’s not blind. He has, after all, fewer dropped passes than Diontae Johnson and Eric Ebron.

Of course, his answer was just the quickest way to get onto the next question.

While JuJu wasn’t forthright, he’s also not entirely wrong.

You won’t find any one Pittsburgh receiver leading in splashy yards categories. Instead, you’ll find a trio who’ve topped the 600-yard mark: Chase Claypool, 649, Diontae Johnson, 654 and JuJu Smith-Schuster is right at 600.

Yes, Ben Roethlisberger is spreading the love around. And, thankfully, none of them are greedy as the Steelers have experienced in the past. 

As a unit, receivers do lead the league in one category, however, and it’s not a good one: most drops (30). And Johnson has a league-leading 10 of them.

But drops aren’t a result of poor playcalling — it’s mostly mental. Johnson and Claypool are both young, so they must hone their technique. But they’re in the pros for a reason; they’ve shown they know how to do it. 

What does the 24-year-old vet tell his teammates?

“I don’t really say much. I say, ‘keep your head up, there’s still a lot of game to play, and the outcome of it can still change.’ This is something that they’ve been doing every day their whole life.” 

The guy passing the ball put the onus on himself. “I think that I need to give them more catchable balls, put them in position to catch balls where they are not going to get hit,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said in a recent press conference. “I’m not going to worry too much about pulling them aside and having a heart-to-heart like ‘You need to catch the ball.’ I need to give them balls that are more catchable, and I need to be my best so they can be at their best. When they are at their best, we are pretty good.”

Big Ben is just being nice. He’s had some off-target throws, but the dropped receptions in question have been catchable balls. 

Roethlisberger can’t fix that, and there are no excuses. They just have to get better — and fast. 

As far as changes to the offense, they need to happen, and JuJu knows this. In particular, throwing short passes instead of running the ball worked early on in most weeks, but it’s not anymore. 

Those plays have been overused, and defenses aren’t stupid. When opponents crowd the line of scrimmage to defend short passes, it also makes it easier to stop the run.

What should JuJu have said in response? We can get better. 

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Steelers WR JuJu Smith-Schuster launches Esports competition company

JuJu Smith-Schuster continues to build his off-field empire.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster continues to expand his brand off the football field. According to Esports Observer, Smith-Schuster is preparing to launch his own gaming organization called Team Diverge.

The goal of Team Diverge is to create an esports organization following the model of other large esports groups such a FazeClan and 100 Thieves.

According to the article, Smith-Schuster will serve as CEO of Team Diverge and characterized it as an “athlete-led gaming and entertainment and lifestyle company” and will be made of up more than just top gamers and streamers and will also include athletes, celebrities and musicians.

This is just a natural progression for Smith-Schuster as he has worked hard to make himself much more than an NFL football player. This is to the chagrin of many Steelers fans who just want him to focus on football.

On the season, Smith-Schuster has 17 receptions for 160 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in five games.

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3 Steelers Who Need To Step Up In Week 12

Three Steelers that can give the Steelers offense a boost.

(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

With the Steelers defense shaking out to be one of the best in the NFL, the offense will need to increase it’s production if the Steelers are going to grab an AFC wildcard spot. This week the offense will be down two pro bowlers as JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner will sit out against the lowly Cincinnati Bengals. Here are three Steelers that need to step up and help Mason Rudolph put points on the board this week in Cincinnati:

WR James Washington

It’s well known that Washington and Rudolph were teammates at Oklahoma State University so the lack of a connection between the two has been somewhat surprising in 2019. Washington seems to be on the verge of a breakout performance every week, but a landmark performance hasn’t been in the cards for the second-year wideout. Washington led the team in targets, receptions and yards two weeks ago against the Los Angeles Rams. He also scored the Steelers lone offensive touchdown. But a lost fumble late in that game seemed to stymie Washington’s growth and confidence.

Last week against the Browns he only had three receptions for a team-high 49 receiving yards on five targets. Washington has good game speed and while he isn’t the biggest receiver, he has a knack for making big plays downfield. Look for him to bounce back against a Bengals defense that is 24thin passing yards surrendered.