The New England Patriots entered the 2023 offseason knowing that they needed some help at wide receiver, and they ended up making their first big splash in free agency by going out and signing JuJu Smith-Schuster to come in and help at this position of need. Smith-Schuster signed a three-year, $33 million deal with the Pats, and immediately appears to be their top wideout with Jakobi Meyers headed out the exit door.
After an awful 2021 campaign with the Pittsburgh Steelers that was marred by injuries, Smith-Schuster took a one-year prove it deal with the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency and put together a nice bounce back campaign (78 REC, 933 YDS, 3 TD) on the way to helping them win Super Bowl 57. As a result of his strong season, Smith-Schuster earned a nice contract from the Pats here.
Smith-Schuster turned himself into a viable fantasy football option once again last season, and now will have some expectations surrounding him as New England's clear cut top option. So with Smith-Schuster ending up with the Patriots, let's take a look at three bold fantasy football predictions for him and see what could be expected of him next season.
3. JuJu Smith-Schuster's draft stock will drop
Smith-Schuster's strong bounce-back campaign saw him finish as the 27th best wide receiver in terms of fantasy football scoring in 2022, and he probably would have finished higher if he didn't suffer a concussion in Week 10 that disrupted his momentum. But now, JuJu is going from one of the best offenses in the NFL to one of the worst, and that will impact his fantasy football production.
The gap between catching passes from Patrick Mahomes to catching passes from Mac Jones is sizable to say the least. Smith-Schuster may be the Patriots top wideout, but as of right now, he doesn't have a lot of help around him. DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, and Tyquan Thornton aren't exactly going to scare opposing secondaries, and Jones didn't really look capable of being a quarterback who can spoon feed his top wide receiver fantasy points.
At his peak, Smith-Schuster offers WR2/FLEX value, but the fact that he's joining a Patriots offense that didn't exactly look great last season must be accounted for. Expect JuJu to drop down the board and be picked up as a late FLEX option who will likely start the season on your bench. He could be a playable option, but it's better to wait and see how he performs before relying too heavily on him.
2. JuJu Smith-Schuster will struggle to get on the same page with Mac Jones
There were quite a few bumps in the road for the Patriots offense last season, but the one constant for much of the season was New England's top wide receiver in Jakobi Meyers. But Meyers is signing with the Las Vegas Raiders, meaning that Jones is losing the most consistent target he has had since entering the NFL.
Smith-Schuster is going to be tasked with stepping up and filling Meyers' role, meaning he's going to have to get on the same page with Jones, and fast. Meyers drew 126 targets in 2021 and 96 targets in 2022, so it's clear that, while there's a large target share for Smith-Schuster to inherit here, he's going to have to get on the same page with Jones quickly.
Considering how Meyers has been Jones' safety blanket early on in his career, it's going to take some time for Smith-Schuster and Jones to get on the same page. Working through that early on is going to result in some struggles for Smith-Schuster, making him a very tough fantasy option to rely on throughout the first few weeks of the season.
1. JuJu Smith-Schuster will post his first 1000 yard season since 2018
Smith-Schuster has seen a downtick in production ever since bursting onto the scene back in 2017 and 2018, but when he's been fully healthy, he's produced like a top-tier wide receiver. Assuming Smith-Schuster can stay healthy and get on the same page with Jones, he should be in store for a very productive 2023 campaign.
It may take awhile, but the expectation should be for Smith-Schuster to put together a strong campaign once he gets acclimated to the Patriots offense. He will see an increased target share, and over the course of a full 17-game season, that should result in Smith-Schuster eclipsing the 1000 yard mark for the first time since 2018.
There's a decent chance the Pats offense will have some more weapons on board alongside Smith-Schuster by the time the 2023 season gets underway, but he should still be a big part of their offense one way or another. He may not get off to a hot start, but stashing Smith-Schuster as a bench option with WR2 upside could be a smart move for fantasy owners, especially after how good he looked in 2022.
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