Jets Could Trade For Chiefs Pro Bowler To Complement Garrett Wilson

The New York Jets just extended Garrett Wilson, but their wide receiver room is still incomplete.

Beyond Wilson, there isn’t a ton of talent. Josh Reynolds and Allen Lazard are presumably WR2 and WR3 at present, with a handful of unproven, young wideouts looking to carve out a role. If the Jets are interested in giving Justin Fields a solid arsenal, general manager Darren Mougey should be monitoring the market for another proven wide receiver.

One guy who might be available is 28-year-old Pro Bowler JuJu Smith-Schuster. On March 15, Smith-Schuster re-signed with the Kansas City Chiefs on a one-year deal worth $1.4 million, but he's looking like the odd man out in Kansas City’s WR room, as noted by ClutchPoints' Ben Strauss.

“The Chiefs need to look into the possibility of trading Smith-Schuster,” Strauss wrote.

“Kansas City's wide receiver room will look a lot different in 2025. Both Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown should be healthy and back in the starting lineup. There is also rookie Jalen Royals who will compete for snaps. All of this is bad news for Smith-Schuster. The veteran wide receiver is long removed from his most productive years. Smith-Schuster had one good year in Kansas City, logging 78 receptions for 933 yards and three touchdowns in 2022. He left for a season in New England before coming back to Kansas City in 2024.”

“Unfortunately, Smith-Schuster made much less of an impact last season,” Strauss continued. “Even with the team's desperate need for receivers."

"Smith-Schuster only managed 18 receptions for 231 yards and two touchdowns. If the Chiefs were unwilling to feed Smith-Schuster in 2024, I don't see why they should be optimistic about him in 2025. Kansas City has already seen what Smith-Schuster can do in an emergency situation. It was not impressive enough to prevent them from exploring a trade.”

Despite Strauss’ pessimistic review of Smith-Schuster’s potential contributions, the wideout is still in his prime and might rev up his production in a new environment with more opportunity. The Jets and their shallow depth at wideout would provide that platform for Smith-Schuster, and he’d be bringing a wealth of experience from winning locker rooms into Aaron Glenn’s culture-building situation.

Drafted No. 62 overall out of USC in the 2017 NFL draft, Smith-Schuster began his career with Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers (2017-2021) before joining the Chiefs and having the best year of his career (as noted by Strauss) in 2022, which culminated in Smith-Schuster winning Super Bowl LVII with Kansas City. He was a Pro Bowler with Pittsburgh very early on in his career (2018) and has always displayed a high level of talent, becoming the youngest receiver in NFL history to reach 1,500 receiving yards.

There’s no reason the Jets shouldn’t take a flyer on Smith-Schuster. He’s tallied 448 receptions, 5,279 receiving yards, and 34 total touchdowns so far in his career, and he’s probably looking to keep adding to those numbers on a team where he’s featured more significantly than in Kansas City.