Chiefs Bringing Back Veteran Wide Receiver

JuJu Smith-Schuster left Kansas City once but he’s not leaving the Chiefs again. Per multiple reports, the Chiefs are re-signing the veteran wide receiver on a one-year contract.

Smith-Schuster, 28, initially joined the Chiefs as an unrestricted free agent in 2022 and helped Kansas City win Super Bowl LVII that season. After playing the 2023 season in New England, the Patriots released him early in the preseason and he rejoined the Chiefs a week before their season-opener.

His best 2024 game was Kansas City’s Monday night victory over the Saints on Oct. 7, when he posted 130 yards on seven catches. However, after that game, he popped up on the injury list with a hamstring issue that hampered him much of middle stretch of the season.

Smith-Schuster missed three games during the middle of the campaign and didn’t see as many snaps or targets as the first half. The hamstring made him inactive for three games and he caught just eight more regular-season passes after that Saints game.

However, Smith-Schuster has occasionally demonstrated a unique explosiveness after the catch, something he showed in the Chiefs’ 32-29 win over Buffalo in the AFC Championship Game. In fact, that may have been the moment Brett Veach and Andy Reid decided they wanted him back.

In the fourth quarter with the Chiefs trailing by a point, Smith-Schuster caught a short Patrick Mahomes pass over the middle and sprinted for 29 yards. That play set up an important go-ahead touchdown run by Mahomes.

The wide receiver’s most memorable moment in a Chiefs uniform came in Super Bowl LVII, when he led the team with seven receptions, six in the second half, in a 38-35 triumph over Philadelphia.

Originally selected by the Steelers in the second round (62nd overall) of the 2017 NFL draft, he spent his first five seasons in Pittsburgh before signing with Kansas City as an unrestricted free agent in 2022. The Southern California product made the Pro Bowl in his second NFL season, 2018, when he posted 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns on 111 receptions.

Smith-Schuster is the sixth Chiefs player to re-sign with the team since the Super Bowl loss to the Eagles, joining wide receiver Hollywood Brown, guard Trey Smith, running back Kareem Hunt, linebacker Nick Bolton and long-snapper James Winchester.

The Chiefs also welcomed back future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce.