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Earlier this week, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Submit-Gazette cited sources in claiming that free-agent-to-be extensive receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster of the Pittsburgh Steelers wish to play in a bigger market through which he may extra simply develop his model.
I wrote about it this morning, and it seems to have now been picked up by the broader media, with Pat McAfee discussing is on his present. “JuJu got here out and mentioned he desires to play in a significant market to construct his model”, McAfee mentioned. “Allegedly”, he shortly added, “these are leaks coming”.
He went on to say the New York Jets due to his prior relationship with quarterback Sam Darnold, with whom he performed at USC, and added that he may see him eager to get again to Los Angeles, the place each the Rams and Chargers are primarily based.
“I do know TikTok can be ready with baited breath”, he quipped.
However Smith-Schuster was fast to return out and deny it, posting on Twitter, “sources inform me that is utterly 100% false lol”. The 24-year previous has spent the whole lot of his four-year NFL profession with the Pittsburgh Steelers since they chose him within the second spherical in 2017.
Sources inform me that is utterly 100% false lol https://t.co/720GEWszRC
— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) January 13, 2021
Many followers had been shocked and even upset with the choice on the time, however he had an excellent rookie season after which made the Professional Bowl in 2018. The final two years haven’t been such an upward trajectory for him, partly because of accidents and partly because of blowback from a few of his social media and media usually conduct.
Regardless of what some Steelers followers could select to imagine, Smith-Schuster is in line to make a major amount of cash this season north of $15 million per season on common, which is roughly the going fee of what related extensive receivers at his manufacturing degree have gathered over the previous two offseasons.
Whereas the crew would possible need to convey him again, the wage cap realities make that troublesome, and so they additionally nonetheless have James Washington, Diontae Johnson, and 2020 rookie star Chase Claypool on the place, with arguably rather more urgent wants elsewhere.
Smith-Schuster has by no means mentioned something however optimistic issues about his time in Pittsburgh and together with his teammates, significantly towards quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who, at the very least as of now, is underneath contract for the 2021 season and anticipated to return.
The subsequent couple of months will characteristic a flurry of hypothesis and studies, as is par for the course for the offseason, however it’s inevitable that the Steelers are going to lose plenty of free brokers this 12 months. Will Smith-Schuster be certainly one of them, and in that case, the place will he land? We’ll have to attend and see, however for now, he denies the notion that he’s seeking to develop into a bigger media market.
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