New England Patriots wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster isn’t making excuses for not being on the field in the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.
After signing with New England, there were expectations that he’d step into the Jakobi Meyers role and take it to new heights. Yet, in the first game of the season, Smith Schuster was only in on 43 snaps and finished with four receptions for 33 yards.
Buy Patriots TicketsWhen speaking with media members ahead of Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins, Smith-Schuster was asked if he was frustrated with his usage in his previous outing.
“No, not frustrated at all. I’ve been in this league way too long. When the time is called, the opportunity is called for me, I’ll make my play,” said Smith-Schuster, who also claimed his previously injured knee was 100 percent.
Question: Are you frustrated you weren’t in the game more last week (43 of 80 snaps)?
JuJu-Smith-Schuster: “No, not frustrated at all. I’ve been in this league way too long. When the time is called, the opportunity is called for me, I’ll make my play.”
Says his knee is 100%.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) September 15, 2023
Smith-Schuster isn’t wrong in the fact that there will be opportunities for him to make plays, and it’ll fall on him to execute in those situations.
But there’s also the fact that rookie wide receiver Kayshon Boutte was in on more snaps than him against the Eagles. Rookie Demario Douglas could also get more work. A report released on Thursday noted that the Patriots don’t view Smith-Schuster as one of their top-five most effective pass-catchers currently.
That could obviously change as the season goes on, but for right now, the decision to let Meyers walk out the door is looking more questionable by the day.
