Apart from franchise cornerstones Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs brought back many familiar faces for the 2024 NFL season. Some of them returned this year after some time away from Arrowhead, including veteran wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The 27-year-old spent the 2022 season in Kansas City, where he helped the team win Super Bowl LVII, before leaving for the New England Patriots as a free agent in 2023. Back on Andy Reid’s team, a string of injuries saw him get more opportunities.
With both Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Rashee Rice on the sidelines, Smith-Schuster is seen as one of the Chiefs’ most reliable healthy pass catchers alongside rookie wideout Xavier Worthy. However, Smith-Schuster believes Kelce still deserves plenty of respect.
“You have a guy like him (Travis Kelce) who’s so impactful on the field. It’s, I mean, in my opinion, I think it’s amazing. I think it’s great,” Smith-Schuster said of Kelce, via Chiefs Wire. “He’s getting to the double team. He’s getting the ones, their best player, to cover him. And that kind of just opens as a receiver group and other guys who get open an opportunity like that. So with him, he’s (a) very smart player. So he knows how to play in space, knowing when it’s man (coverage), when it’s zone, something that’s pretty cool.”
Kelce, 35, is without any doubt the most prominent name in Mahomes’ offense, but his slow start to the 2024 NFL season saw many question his importance in the unit. Smith-Schuster may get to enjoy a bigger role now that other wideouts are injured, but he considers it’d be a mistake to overlook the tight end who helped Mahomes win three Super Bowls in Kansas City.
Andy Reid sees similarities between Smith-Schuster, Kelce
While the offensive injuries suffered by the Chiefs at the start of the 2024 NFL season has fans concerned, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid made it clear to GM Brett Veach and Mahomes that he believes in the team’s current pass catchers.
In fact, Reid has drawn parallels between Smith-Schuster and Kelce: “The guy opposite Kelce ends up being very important, they know how to play the game and can kind of do similar things that Kelce can do. If you can get that, you’ve got something going offensively that way.”
According to the Chiefs head coach, Smith-Schuster’s rise is not only great news because of the WR injuries, but also because it provides Mahomes with a weapon similar to Kelce when the tight end is covered.
“So he (Smith-Schuster) did that before, (Byron) Pringle did that beforehand. We’ve had guys in those spots that could do that,” Reid said. “So that’s a positive thing. Anyways, JuJu is good with it, and there are similar things. They’re doing similar things.”