Patriots fans who tuned into the primetime clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints on Monday night surely asked themselves one thing: Why couldn’t JuJu Smith-Schuster do that in New England?
Smith-Schuster, who was cut by the Patriots following a short but uninspiring training camp, finished with seven catches on eight targets for 130 yards in a Week 5 victory. His 130 yards marked his most since Dec. 2018 when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Smith-Schuster didn’t catch seven passes in any game of his 2023 season with the Patriots — he caught one pass in five of the 11 he played. The veteran wideout also compiled more than 51 yards in just one game and finished with 15 or fewer yards in seven of 11 games.
Smith-Schuster’s performance combined with New England’s struggles at wide receiver this season prompted the Patriots to come under fire by football fans and media members.
Here’s what some of them had to say:
@BenjaminSolak posted on X: “JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was cut by the Patriots this offseason, has more receiving yards tonight (117 yards) than any Patriots pass-catcher has had in a game this season.”
@davidhelman_ posted on X: “Juju Smith-Schuster was the leading WR on a Chiefs Super Bowl team, took a 15-month break from relevancy to earn $16m from the Patriots & is now going to be the leading WR on a Chiefs Super Bowl team. finesse king”
@mikekadlick posted on X: “Starting to think the #Patriots were using JuJu Smith-Schuster wrong…”
@thebradwhitaker posted on X: “The Patriots have plenty of weapons at receiver. I know this because Juju Smith-Schuster, who wasn’t good enough to make the team, is going off right now with the Chiefs.”
@PeterDombrowsk6 posted on X: “Why can’t the Patriots find receivers like JuJu Smith-Schuster?”
@m_anderson2015 posted on X: “I guess Juju Smith-Schuster isn’t washed. It was just the Patriots.”
@dan_goes_ham posted on X: “Sure looks like the Patriots could use a guy like Juju Smith-Schuster”
One obvious difference is that Smith-Schuster had Patrick Mahomes throwing him the ball Monday after a 2023 campaign with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. Smith-Schuster is further away from a knee injury, as well.
