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WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, NE (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter Faust
- Start date
Twenty-Four Eighty-Four
Footballguy
He's staying in Pittsburgh on a one-year deal. One-year, $8 million. Had better offers from the Chiefs and Ravens but chose to stay.
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I'm not quoting this as a "gotcha" to you. I just think it's indicative of this free-agency period, because pretty much everyone figured Juju was never going back to PIT. And here we are. So weird.
It's ok, I don't mind. I never thought it would happen but never thought he'd be an $8M a year guy either. I'm sure not alone, even this morning I read an article from Kaboly saying he had no chance to return event at a discount.
But when someone says 0% and it goes wrong calling them out is appropriate.
It took a perfect storm of events for this outcome to occur.
- A year ago no one thought the salary cap would drop
- No one thought the WR market would be this weak
- No one thought he would want a 1-year contract
- No one thought he would give the Steelers a home-town discount
You are right JuJu is a considerably better buy but Corey's deal is 3/$37.5 or if Jet's prefer 2/$27.The Jets gave Corey Davis 5-75 and Juju signed for 1-8
This is why the Jets are the Jets
Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
Not sure about that.
Big Ben is a year older and he's lost some O-Linemen and his arm isn't what it used to be. Ju-Ju has some young WRs nipping at his heels and he was trying to build his brand seemingly at the expense of the team.
He failed to post a 100 yard receiving game in the regular season since 2018 when he was playing with AB so he got 2nd tier CBs.
I think the biggest obstacle could be Ben's arm.
fruity pebbles
Footballguy
Nelson Agholor basically got a 2 for 22. Yikes JuJu.
Kiddnets
Footballguy
aside from the real contract being 2 yrs for 25M.....the Jets already have a good slot WR in Crowder not to mention Im pretty confident that if JuJu rebuffed solid teams like the Ravens/KC who offered more....there was no chance he was signing with the Jets.The Jets gave Corey Davis 5-75 and Juju signed for 1-8
This is why the Jets are the Jets
rockaction
Footballguy
Yeah, that's not close. Jets gave Davis 11.5 million dollars a year, and Corey plays outside while JuJu plays slot. It becomes apples to oranges at that point. If you want to laugh about the Jets, laugh about 5.5 million dollars for Keelan Cole when they probably could have had JuJu for six-seven million more (which they can afford). If you want to laugh in general, laugh at the Pats for the Bourne and Agholor signings. But I think you're mistaken here.The Jets gave Corey Davis 5-75 and Juju signed for 1-8
This is why the Jets are the Jets
Kiddnets
Footballguy
King of the Jungle
Footballguy
Well that is anticlimactic. Kind of was hoping to see what James Washington could do with a larger role. WR market turning into the RB market.
barackdhouse
Footballguy
rschroeder1
Footballguy
I have Juju as one of four keepers in my keeper league, but we took the 2020 season off for pandemic reasons. I didn't own Juju elsewhere, but having watched enough Steelers games the anecdotal feeling I got was that he never really felt involved in the offense. He had his big games, but you didn't get the feel that he's a focal point.
So I was a bit surprised when for .5 PPR Juju finished as WR18. I realize it's not the top-of-the-league hopes some have held for Juju, but it gives me a bit of optimism upon his resigning with Pittsburgh. I was certainly hoping he was headed somewhere else, but at least for long-term it's a one-year deal.
For 2021 purposes only, Ben's age concerns me, as does the Steelers' offense morphing into a passing attack that doesn't favor long gains. If there's a reason for optimism, my hope is that the continued development of Chase Claypool may take some of the double-teams off of Juju. He's clearly not a top WR1 that can overcome that, but if Claypool is enough of a threat, I think that may help Juju a bit.
So I was a bit surprised when for .5 PPR Juju finished as WR18. I realize it's not the top-of-the-league hopes some have held for Juju, but it gives me a bit of optimism upon his resigning with Pittsburgh. I was certainly hoping he was headed somewhere else, but at least for long-term it's a one-year deal.
For 2021 purposes only, Ben's age concerns me, as does the Steelers' offense morphing into a passing attack that doesn't favor long gains. If there's a reason for optimism, my hope is that the continued development of Chase Claypool may take some of the double-teams off of Juju. He's clearly not a top WR1 that can overcome that, but if Claypool is enough of a threat, I think that may help Juju a bit.
Balco
Footballguy
Ghost Rider
Footballguy
True, but that is a cheap price for a good, but not great, WR like Juju who already knows their system and has a good chemistry with the QB.
By taking a 1-year deal, Juju is obviously hoping he can have a big year and parlay that into a bigger contract next offseason. That wouldn't have happen playing in Baltimore (run first team with a QB who isn't a great thrower) or Kansas City (where he would have been 3rd at best on the pecking order of targets). In Pittsburgh, it will likely still be a 1a, 1b and 1c situation with Claypool and Johnson.
Da Guru
Fair & Balanced
I thought Schuster was looking for a long term deal?
I know the WR market is flat this year as Kenny Galladay will not get near the deal he turned down from the Lions last year.
A lot of the free agents were expected to sign one year deals in the hope for an increased cap next year.
Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
Replying to news of Ju-Ju resigning with the team that lead to these stats.
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Rich Hribar@LordReebs
If it means we have to see JuJu run 85% of his routes in the slot with a 6.0 aDOT again, hard pass.
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Rich Hribar@LordReebs
JuJu's slot rate in the NFL...
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Rich Hribar@LordReebs
If it means we have to see JuJu run 85% of his routes in the slot with a 6.0 aDOT again, hard pass.
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Rich Hribar@LordReebs
JuJu's slot rate in the NFL...
- 2017: 58.0%
- 2018: 61.6%
- 2019: 66.3%
- 2020: 84.9%
- 2017: 10.1
- 2018: 9.3
- 2019: 9.8
- 2020: 6.0
- 2017: 21.5%
- 2018: 19.9%
- 2019: 20.0%
- 2020: 9.4%
barackdhouse
Footballguy
Wasn't last year a different OC?
Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
Big Ben had a big say in construction of the offense and had free reign to audible out of run plays into passing plays which he did with impunity.
The QB is older, has had an injury that cost him the bulk of a season two years ago. The O-Line was crumbling and has lost pieces meanwhile the WR depth chart is loaded.
The offense couldn't run the ball and couldn't hold up so percentage-wise they didn't take a lot of shots downfield and utilized the strengths of WRs while at the same time minimized the weakness of the QB but the QB took over calling a lot of plays which highlighted his weakness'.
So the OC was the issue last year and everything will be fine with Ju-Ju?
I don't think its that simple.
barackdhouse
Footballguy
That's all fine but I was only asking a question. For fantasy I hate that he resigned and for many of the same reasons. I was just curious. I think that if they somehow ran the best scheme next year that anyone could ever possibly imagine, Ben's inability to throw is still a problem. I have no choice but to bump down all Pitt WRs and Ebron who I was counting on for middling bottom end TE1 production. Still, I think a lot of the homers have said repeatedly that the OC was hot garbage. Didn't know about Ben's audibling, though.
One other *possible* ray of hope is if they draft a top RB that hits from day 1, maybe other things open up.
Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
I don't think Ben has lost much on his arm, can still throw it just fine. I think the dink and dunk nature of so many of his passes is making people think he can't throw but it's more a function of the OL, his lack of mobility and not wanting to take hits, not his arm..
I'm of the opinion JuJu returning was solid for him, he's got a QB who trusts him and he's shown to get enough volume. As a player I used to think he was more but now think he's in the mold of a Jarvis Landry type. Not seeing much evidence he's a #1, seeing tons of evidence he's a yac reliant strong handed possession WR and he might be in an offense fairly well suited for that. I admit KC would have excited me for fantasy reasons, but I don't think he's in a bad spot and if a team tried to pay him and make him a bona fide #1 it might have gone badly.
I actually worry about his knee. No major surgery I know about but it's seemed to be a nagging issue for last two years, I can't recall 2019 but I know last year he missed at least a day or practice every week and just looks a little less explosive.
I'm of the opinion JuJu returning was solid for him, he's got a QB who trusts him and he's shown to get enough volume. As a player I used to think he was more but now think he's in the mold of a Jarvis Landry type. Not seeing much evidence he's a #1, seeing tons of evidence he's a yac reliant strong handed possession WR and he might be in an offense fairly well suited for that. I admit KC would have excited me for fantasy reasons, but I don't think he's in a bad spot and if a team tried to pay him and make him a bona fide #1 it might have gone badly.
I actually worry about his knee. No major surgery I know about but it's seemed to be a nagging issue for last two years, I can't recall 2019 but I know last year he missed at least a day or practice every week and just looks a little less explosive.
JohnnyU
Footballguy
I see him as the second most targeted WR on the team but I think we are speaking the same language in that I view him as the third best fantasy option.
But that should not be considered some massive negative either or point of reference that returning was bad for him. Steelers are only team in NFL to put 3 WR's in the top 24 in fantasy scoring. If it's like last year it's a team with no true fantasy #1, but 3 fantasy #2's. (thought I would point out if you isolated Diontae's fully healthy games he was a WR1)
JohnnyU
Footballguy
They have basically no one signed after next season. From a cap perspective they are primed for a rebuild. But they never do. They still need to find a QB and extend Watt and other key players.
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Seemed like a pretty clear pecking order when they are all healthy: Diontae, Chase - who was TD dependent, big play upside but RZ success can be variable - and then Juju, who offers neither YAC or much RZ upside but pretty good pinball machine if you play full PPR.
rschroeder1
Footballguy
Not sure I totally agree here. For 2020, Claypool was #15 across the NFL in red zone targets (20 targets, 10 catches, 4 TD). Juju was #17 (19 targets, 16 catches, 6 TD).BobbyLayne said:
In regard to total YAC, the rankings go Juju 22, Diontae 26, Claypool 44. For YAC/R, all three performed more poorly compared with the top of the league. Juju 103, Diontae 84, Claypool 60.
I think there's some variability to how this year plays out because Juju's role is quite different. Entering 2020, he was the de facto #1 receiver, and my anecdotal observation was that he was treated like that. I recall from the Eagles game, when Claypool went nuts, that Juju was frequently seeing double teams. I didn't watch every Steelers game, so that may have been a limited sample trend.
But if we in the fantasy community consider Diontae the #1, it would logically follow that NFL defenses may be planning for Diontae, rather than Juju, as the #1. How Diontae reacts to that, how Claypool reacts to more attention, and where Juju slots in to that mix is something I can't possibly predict. But I don't think the results of 2020 are set in stone to repeat in '21.
