The New England Patriots are releasing former Pro Bowl wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on Friday, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The move is surprising because the Patriots guaranteed $7 million of his salary for 2024 but they’re choosing to take that on as dead money and pay Smith-Schuster to play somewhere else.
Could he interest the New Orleans Saints? The black and gold are running awful thin at receiver. Of the 11 wideouts on their roster, only six of them are healthy enough to suit up for Saturday night’s preseason opener: Chris Olave, Cedrick Wilson Jr., A.T. Perry, Kevin Austin Jr., Marquez Callaway, and Samson Nacua.
It’s unclear whether guys like Rashid Shaheed, Equanimeous St. Brown, Stanley Morgan, Bub Means, and Mason Tipton will be able to go on Saturday night. Neither would Smith-Schuster, if the Saints signed him as soon as possible (there’s no way he could pick up the playbook in time), but that goes to illustrate our point. The depth chart has been whittled down by all of these training camp injuries.
The early-career success Smith-Schuster found as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ No. 2 target behind Antonio Brown didn’t continue once he was put into a starring role, but the Saints wouldn’t be asking him to take point with Olave and Shaheed on top of the depth chart. If he could be an upgrade over the journeymen and inexperienced young pros on their roster, that might be enough.
Because Smith-Schuster has such high contract offsets it’s reasonable to think a team could sign him at a near-minimum deal so long as the fit makes sense. We’ll see if anything develops on this front. Even if it isn’t Smith-Schuster, the Saints should look into reloading their offense in the weeks ahead, including their depth along the offensive line.
[lawrence-auto-related count=5]