While Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith Schuster probably wasn’t thrilled with all of the drama two of his offensive teammates, wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell, both produced in 2018, it doesn’t mean that he wants both to leave this offseason.
In a Wednesday interview with Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network on the “Rapsheet and Friends” podcast, Smith-Schuster discussed his team’s 2018 distractions in addition to giving his own thoughts on what he’d like to see happen with both Brown and Bell moving forward into 2019.
“In my dream world, what would I have? I would have Le’Veon Bell as a running back with James Conner. I’d have AB stay on the other side and we’re winning the Super Bowl with the guys that we have, the guys that we keep,” Smith Schuster told Rapoport. “Obviously, it’s tough, situations like that where you can’t control…Art Rooney and Mike Tomlin, with that situation, but, yeah, for me, it’s more so like, man, let’s keep the guys on the team and let’s win a Super Bowl. Let’s stop the bulls—t.”
Smith-Schuster was then asked if he’s been able to learn quite a bit this past season about the business of the NFL after watching what Bell and Brown both went through
“Oh, for sure,” Smith-Schuster said. “It opened up my eyes more so just because, like, the situation with Le’Veon Bell, with the whole money situation, that kind of opened my eyes on that point of view and then the situation with AB, obviously that stuff that he’s dealing with the Steelers with, and that’s what they have to handle. So, for myself, you know, I’m just focused on my campaign, how I can get better and just increase my role.”
Smith-Schuster’s Wednesday was a busy one on radio row in Atlanta, GA ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl and during several interview he was asked to comment on Brown’s situation and what he thinks the future holds for his Steelers positional counterpart. During one of those interviews, Smith-Schuster sure sounded like he’s confident that Brown will still be his teammate in 2019.
“For sure, I have no doubt that he’s still going to be,” Smith-Schuster said when asked if he’d like to see Brown back next year. “He’s a die-hard Pittsburgh Steeler, black and gold.
Smith-Schuster was quickly asked to confirm if he truly believed that Brown will be with the Steelers in 2019.
“Oh, yeah, for sure,” he said.
Smith-Schuster certainly seems to be more confident about Brown remaining with the team in 2019 than most who cover the team closely are. That said, he probably can’t wait to wrap up his radio row interviews these next few days so he won’t have to answer any more questions about Brown or Bell for a while.
