Watching Juju Smith-Shuster sign a one-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday was pretty painful. Breaking news from the Smith-Schuster camp, this time coming from his mother on Instagram, makes this signing all the more painful.
According to Smith-Schuster’s mother, Sammy Schuster, Smith-Schuster wanted to stay in Pittsburgh for another year, but the Steelers “didn’t want Juju,” she wrote on Instagram Saturday, mourning the loss of more than “400,000 followers.”
Of course, this is only one side of the story, so take it for granted, but it makes the loss of Smith-Schuster in free agency to an AFC enemy all the more painful.
Juju’s mother on her son’s signing with the Chiefs, according to IG. Says Juju wanted to stay but the Steelers didn’t want him anymore #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/LYejdjo9UG
— Depot Steelers 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) March 19, 2022
“There is always one person who fights to keep this love… in our case… we [sic] Juju and I fought to stay in Pittsburgh because it wasn’t about money, it was about loyalty,” Sammy Schuster wrote on her IG. “But I think the Steelers had a new boyfriend in mind. So they didn’t want JuJu anymore. FYI Pittsburgh!! We fought to stay!!! If your [sic] didn’t want to why? stay!!!”
Well then.
Thank you Steelers Nation!! I love you! 💛🖤 pic.twitter.com/o5xN8fgc9C
— Juju Smith-Shuster (@TeamJuJu) March 18, 2022
If that’s even remotely true, the Steelers missed the ball here, allowing a key leader and offensive player to go for a penny into an offense already loaded with All-Pro caliber talent. This may all be a bit of an exaggeration of the truth from the Smith-Schuster camp, albeit in order to make them look a little better after leaving the place they’ve called home for five years. While this is only one side of the story, it comes directly from Mom Smith-Schuster.
Smith-Schuster will earn a base salary of $3 million in 2022 with the Kansas City Chiefs and could earn up to $7.5 million in incentives, making him a $10.5 million one-year deal.
That #leadersThe deal with WR JuJu Smith-Schuster is around $3 million in base value, with the rest at a maximum value of $10.75 million. @rap sheet the income is reported in the form of incentives, the sources say.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 18, 2022
We’ll see if anything comes out from the Steelers side, but overall the black and gold look doesn’t look good right now.