Player Profile: Smith-Schuster is a Weapon

By Jessica Costello
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Updated: October 18, 2018

With an explosive start to just his second year in Pittsburgh, JuJu Smith-Schuster came to win, and the Pittsburgh Steelers needed a draft pick like that. Smith-Schuster no doubt seems to be able to do it all for the Steelers without getting himself in trouble on or off the field.

He’s proven himself to be undoubtedly a threat to any defense, the use of his hands reminds some of Antonio Brown’s, and he’s a deep threat with Ben Roethlisberger’s arm. There was never any doubt after Smith-Schuster was drafted but I don’t think many thought he would this quickly resemble Brown on the field.

Smith-Schuster has become such a reliable target for Roethlisberger and that was definitely proven after the controversy during the Bengals game last week. Last year when Smith-Schuster got himself in trouble with Vontaze Burfict, there were threats looming around what last weeks’ game could have in store for JuJu.

But being the reliable wide receiver that he is to Roethlisberger, his quarterback had no doubts about him during the game.

“I knew he would be fine,” Roethlisberger said. “I’ve got trust and faith in him. I know who he is and what he is.”

After the second failed pass to Smith-Schuster, Roethlisberger had a quick talk with JuJu on the sideline.

“I tried to talk to him, just little stuff like, ‘You’re ok. You’re fine,’” Roethlisberger said. “He gave me kind of a short answer and started to walk away. It wasn’t a big deal, but I kind of got on him. I think it was more frustration on his part than anything else. He came back to me a few minutes later, on his own, and said, ‘I got you, my bad, da da da.’ To me, that speaks volumes of who he is. ‘I’m coming to you,’ I told him. He made plays. He gets mad when he doesn’t make them. He wants to make every play.”

Who else does that remind you of? His mentor on the field, Antonio Brown is always helping JuJu perfect his talent.

“This guy is the GOAT,” Smith-Schuster said. He expressed his gratitude for the veteran wide receiver and just how lucky he is to be learning from him.

Besides his talented ways on the field, I don’t think it’s any secret that Smith-Schuster is quite the entertainer for the fans and his teammates. He’s got such good intentions for interacting with fans and his teammates can always rely on him to boost the morale in the locker room.

JuJu is exactly what the Steelers need and it doesn’t look like he plans to go anywhere anytime soon.