What’s going to happen to Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in the next 72 hours? It’s hard to say for sure outside of expecting him to sign a new contract that will likely be worth at least $16 million per season or more. There is, however, a lot speculation right now as to where Smith-Schuster might land.
According to to NFL insider John Clayton last week, the Las Vegas Raiders, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots are all expected show some level of interest in Smith-Schuster these next few days and possibly even the Cincinnati Bengals as well.
As for the Raiders maybe having interest in bringing Smith-Schuster to Las Vegas, they may reportedly fall out of the running for him if his price rises above $16 million per year. According to Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal in a recent online chat, the Raiders view wide receiver Nelson Agholor as a priority on its free-agency agenda.
“The first priority is bringing Agholor back, and given the cost-effectiveness in doing so he appears to be the best bet,” Bonsignore wrote recently. “The rapport he created with Derek Carr, and the reliability and production he represents make him extremely valuable. If they can’t work something out, there is confidence in the building that the improvement of Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards would offset the blow. Zay Jones is also a possibility to come back. The market could yield a player the equivalent of Agholor. As far as his market, hard to imagine he’s going to get a big offer somewhere.”
ESPN NFL insider and former league executive Mike Tannenbaum said on Sunday that the Houston Texans would be a perfect landing spot for Smith-Schuster.
“I think he would be absolutely perfect for the Houston Texans,” Tannenbaum said on SportsCenter. “They’re gonna lose Will Fuller, someone they didn’t franchise. They’re also gonna need a young wide receiver on their roster. I don’t think his market is gonna be as good as maybe he thinks. Interestingly, he had 97 catches but he only averaged 8.57 yards per catch. So even though we don’t know about their quarterback situation he would really help them.”
Most of what has been written or said these last few weeks about Smith-Schuster and his possibly landing spot this coming week seems to be heavy speculation. The general consensus however, is that Smith-Schuster will not be back in Pittsburgh.
The legal tampering portion of the free agency signing period gets underway on Monday at noon so we might know where Smith-Schuster is headed on Wednesday by tonight and for how much.
