Chiefs sign JuJu Smith-Schuster

all right what's going on happy Monday good morning to all of you fary suian here with you for another edition of the chief's Zone podcast and we've got some breaking news to discuss today appreciate you guys taking the time to be part of the podcast appreciate all of you who are downloading listening to the podcast through Apple Spotify anywhere where you can download or listen to a podcast for those of you who are tuning in in the morning here at least morning Central Time appreciate you guys as well we usually do not do a podcast on a morning but of course the new cycle has other plans so we got to get into it got to discuss it so uh appreciate you guys being with me today I want to let you know this podcast is brought to you by SeatGeek SeatGeek is the place where I go to for all of my sports ticketing needs and I'll tell you right now football season coming up 10 days away from kickoff Chiefs Ravens AFC Championship rematch in 10 days I'm excited for that you guys want to go to that game want to go to any other football game or even non-f footb games concerts other sporting events go to SeatGeek and if you're a new customer enter my promo code Farine and you will save $20 off your first purchase from SeatGeek go to seatgeek.com new customers at checkout can enter the promo code Farine and you will save 20 bucks off your first purchase from SeatGeek all right let's waste little time let's get right into it I don't want to spend uh too much time um do talking about other things and I I want to keep this a short as possible because uh we're going to do another podcast tomorrow evening recapping the 53 man roster of course uh that's going to be a pretty big uh and busy show uh we it's going to get pretty interesting with the uh wide receiver room so there are a lot of things to get into here but let's get right into it so the breaking news this morning the Kansas City Chiefs have signed and have brought back Juju Smith Schuster for a second stint in Kansas City there are some mixed reactions with this one because when I posted that the Patriots released Juju Smith Shuster I I brought it up I said do you guys think juud Smith Schuster will come back to K City a lot of you guys laughed about it why the hell would we want him back well I think there's uh there's definitely some positives from this let me just say something about Juju Shuster is it concerning that he was let go by a team that is expected to be really bad this year yes but is he coming to Kansas City to be the number one wide receiver for this offense no the Chiefs have Rashi rice and Xavier worthy who are going to handle those duties and Hollywood Brown when he comes back Juju Smith Schuster is coming to Kansas City to provide depth on an offense that he's already familiar with he knows what the expectations are he knows what what Patrick Mahomes wants wants out of him so this is not a situation where Juju is expected to come in and become a 1,00 yard Elite receiver or anything like that he's coming in here to provide depth for a team that wants to have as many weapons possible because here's what this does this lifts the load off a lot of people's shoulders lifts a load off Rashi Rice's shoulder off of Xavier Worthy's shoulders same for Hollywood Brown when he comes back and that'll alleviate things on offense even more for these guys because there's a little bit of pressure on these guys to do well without him for a short period of time oh by the way you have the best tight end in NFL history this is definitely great news for Travis Kelce and I've said this many times in the past too you cannot stack the Box anywhere with this Chief's team or against this Chief's team you could do it last year when the wide receivers were bad was easy to do last year when they were bad can't do it this year though you can't because what are you gonna do you're G to stack the Box okay momes is gonna have no issues alling out of the running play and whoever you put one-on-one against who worthy rice Hollywood Kelsey good luck with that this is an offense that is really built to succeed here now if there are any injuries going around which unfortunately we've had a little bit of that so far then yeah Juju will have to come in and he'll have to be that guy hopefully he doesn't get to that point though but when you look at this wide receiver room right now where it was a year ago where it was six months ago this is by far a much better wide receiver room what what are the reasons that this chief team won't improve offensively why are the wide receivers not going to be better I've yet I've heard a lot of people like kind of I shouldn't say a lot of people but there are some people outside of Kansas City that are hopeful that the offense is going to be the same and that's all wishful thinking this is not a Chief's offense that is going to look anything like last year oh by the way that team still won the Super Bowl so if that team can win the Super Bowl leading the NFL in dropped passes having the uh most penalized offensive player having the most penalized defensive player what in the hell is going to happen this year when they have receivers that can catch the ball when they have receivers that actually have high in Elite Speed who's stopping this def uh this offense my heart goes out to all of the defensive coordinators that have to prepare for this Chiefs team they listen coaches already spend countless hours preparing for opposing teams defensive coordinators they have to spend a lot of time you know understanding what routes certain receivers run certain situations how how the quarterback does certain things in certain situations all of that stuff if you're a defensive coordinator and you have the week to prepare for the Kan City Chiefs you are going to be spending countless hours preparing for this Chiefs team there's no way about it defensive coordinators are are going to lose sleep over this this offense they're have bags under their eyes because there's not going to be any time to sleep because all they're going to be doing night and day is preparing for how to stop this Chief's offense and listen the Chiefs are not going to go undefeated I know there are some people that think that's a possibility there there's just there's just way too much um it's a long season the Chiefs are going to drop a game or two that they shouldn't drop it's going to happen but in general this is this is an offense that is going to be good let me read you the wide receivers on this team right now okay in fact let's do a let's do a fun little exercise here who are gonna because I think if you're going to add ju guu I think you're gonna have seven wide receivers I've seen a lot of speculation out there before today that the Chiefs are going to have six wide receivers I think that number goes up to seven because I don't think you're bringing back micole Hardman and JuJu Smith Shuster to just let them go or put them on the practice squad in fact I don't think their practice squad eligible and I listen I'm not here to really get into the practice squad eligible stuff because I don't really know the details of that whole thing um uh but no one's going on the practice squad of those two names I mentioned here they're just not um when you look at what you have with this offense when it comes to specifically wide receivers there are a lot of there are some interesting decisions to be made so here are the three wide receivers I think we can all unanimously agree they're making the team Hollywood Brown unless his injury is more of a concern than maybe we realized but I don't think that's the case so Hollywood brown rashy rice and Xavier worthy those are your three wide receivers going into week one Hollywood's going to be inactive for one maybe two possibly three games that like that's it not going to be anything more than that uh from the way things sound who's behind those three I think Justin Watson is going to be your number four guy I think Juju bringing him back I mean you're not bringing him back to cut him in 24 hours sure as hell not going to be the case and I think mcole Hardman I don't think the Chiefs have any interest in parting ways with mcole Hardman so that's six wide receivers I just gave you who are the other four I mean who who do you have left you have skymore left you have cadarius Tony Justin Ross Nico rigio and Cornell Powell Cornell Powell had kind of a good preseason for the Chiefs this year so what's going to happen who's the odd man out of that mix there in fact you have four odd men out I don't think Sky Moore is making this team look if you guys have been following me a long time and a lot of you guys have you guys know that I am very very very patient with certain players in their progress um I'd like to think I'm one of the more patient Chiefs fans and just one of the more patient sports fans out there with these kinds of things um maybe to a fault but neither here there I just don't know at this point what value does skymore bring to your football team so I think skymore is done I don't know again practice squad eligibility I'm not here to discuss that stuff I just want to talk about the 53 uh who's the other guy caneras Tony he's had moments some very very good moments the uh touchdown catch where he was adjusting his glove while running the route and in midair uh the the punt return in the Super Bowl um part of one of the corn dog touchdown plays oh farzine anyone could have cut that yeah but you still got to do your job at the end of the day in that situation when you see a speed St like it AR Tony running around the quarterbacks are going to always bite that so KT was built to be able to do that kind of thing but then you've had some really bad moments the Detroit Lions game ball going off your hand for a pick six late in the game with a chance to win the game get in the field goal range you drop a pass there in the Patriots game ball off the hands for a pick very reminiscent of the one against Detroit in fact that was the last time we saw him play was in that um in that uh Patriots game in Foxboro uh the game against Buffalo where he was offside nullifying his own touchdown on a really sweet lateral from Travis Kelce so you have had some really good moments with cader Sony and some really bad moments with him and I think you know when a guy has has a skill set like caderas Tony you just can't give up on a guy like that but he's cost you games at the end of the day so is this someone that's worth keeping around plus there are some off the field weird stuff like his social media behavior and I don't know man I don't know so I don't know if Canary Sony sticking around anymore so who are the three candidates left Cornell Powell Nico rigio and Justin Ross let me just say this Coro Powell worked his ass off in the preseason did well can't do much more than that but I think he's going to be a practice squad guy again I do that leaves niiko rigio and Justin Ross niik rigio has been getting a lot of Praise from a lot of the coaches this off season Andy Reid Matt naggie Dave to everyone loves Nico ramio I mean this is a guy that if he's make the team he's going to have to have a good preseason on offense but he's going to have to do some things on special teams as well and he did that and he did he he indeed did do that all of that Justin Ross you know he's had moments in the preseason this is a guy that you know could have been a first- round draft pick but injuries um set him back obviously got in a little bit of uh trouble off the field we still don't know all the details but neither here nor there he's already suffered the consequences for it um is this the guy that you keep around because if you put Justin Ross on your practice squad or at least if that if you're going to attempt to put him on your practice squad good luck with that he's not coming back if you cut Justin Ross he's done he's not coming back someone's gonna claim him off waivers 100% um Sky Moore and Canary Stony I can see them clearing waivers I could maybe see a team uh take a chance uh at uh at Tony um but I think if Justin Ross becomes available you're going to have a the 31 other NFL teams be more than interested to see if that guy could maybe be at the very least a depth player for your offense so what do you do in this situation because if you keep Justin Ross then you you keep him Nico ramio there's maybe a 50-50 chance he gets claimed off waivers and he could just come right back to your practice squad I don't think the Chiefs are going to have any interested in bringing back skymore and kadir's Tony um and I could be wrong look and while we're saying all of this there's maybe a chance that there's maybe a chance that the Chiefs might actually part ways with Justin Watson or micole Hardman I'm not dismissing the possibility of that I would say there's a slim chance of that I don't I don't think it's it's very likely but I think the Chiefs might consider one of those moves um it's not going to be very easy cut I don't think it's ever easy listen if you have a terrible preseason and a terrible training camp then you have to make some really tough decisions like okay who was the best of the worst here you know that's never an easy thing but when you have a situation like the Chiefs have and we've seen it you know the past couple of years where the Chiefs have had a very difficult time trying to keep everybody we saw with Tyreek hill we saw with lerus need recently you can't keep everybody um kind of the same thing right here you cannot keep all of these players um do I think skyar has potential yes do I think it Aries Tony has potential yes Justin Ross Corell yes but at the end of the day I mean unless you want to run a um an offense with no tight ends outside of Travis Kelce then you know you're going to be having a lot of wide receivers and that's just not the way you can operate on offense you just can't um I I'm very very eager to see what happens within the next 28 hours Chiefs have some very interesting decisions to make with the wide receiver my seven and I think it's going to be seven are Hollywood unless unless and I said this earlier I'll say it again unless there is some update out there that we do not know about that the Hollywood injury is more significant than what we were told initially so far we have not had any reports of that from anyone in the media and I think if that was the case maybe that would have been out there by now I know a lot of people are saying well what about the Rashi rice suspension that that's kind of looming over his head right now it's a good question but I'll say what I've been saying all offseason long Roger Goodell did say at the NFL draft that he is going to let the legal process play out so if you want a little bit of an update on the legal process and I'm not an attorney but a little bit of Google um for those who don't know Google is this magical website where you can get some questions answered um Rashi Rice's court date is not until December and that's not even going to be the final court date he's going to have another won sometime in 2025 and I don't know exactly when but it's very likely going to be after the Super Bowl so that kind of situation right there you know with Rogero saying he's gonna let the legal matter play out and he's done that in the past with certain players such as Alvin kamaro very similar uh protocol in fact to Alvin kamaro as matter uh Rashi rice is not getting suspended this year I would be very surprised if we got that within the next 10 days I'd be very surprised so I don't think that's happening so you're going into week one with Hollywood who's going to be inactive and you're gonna have rashy rice Xavier worthy Juju Smith Shuster as some of your key receivers Justin Watson micle Harman gonna be right behind them think about the think about the list of um the list of players on here you've got wood and that's going to be huge when he comes back you have Xavier worthy who is fast you have rashu rice who isn't necessarily known for his speed on the field but man that guy can make a one-two step and absolutely throw off a defensive back that guy's very good at creating separation and that's why he was drafted and probably should have been a first- round pick you look at uh Justin Watson I've always said he's a very good depth player even though though he was guilty of some drops last year he actually was one of the more productive receivers last year but I think he's much more better in that depth role than being one of the two starters on the um on offense you have micole Hardman yeah he's had some he's had some issues but man whenever he does it right it's a very good thing for your offense his speed can absolutely destroy a defense so those are your those are your main guys and then you bring in gu guu who has speed who knows the offense who's come through for you he had what 930 yards when he played for the Chiefs 933 yards and that was by the way the year you know you you traded Tyreek Hill and JuJu joined the team right before the Tyreek trade um so he probably knew about it before it was public uh that was also the same year you had Marquez Valdes scandling Valdes scaning didn't have the drop issues in 2022 like did in 2023 I mean those were your top two receivers that year that's also the same year you went and got kadar's Tony so they're going to be some very difficult decisions they're going to be made with this wide receiver cut within the next 28 hours by the way this is worth noting uh sports radio a10's Jason Anderson he's on the air right now but he mentioned early on in the uh show that he actually got word that the Chiefs wanted a specifically Matt naggie the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs wanted Juju Smith Shuster and he couldn't get a second source to verify it but he's basically you know reporting that Matt naggie was the driving force in bringing Juju Smith Shuster back to Kansas City uh he had very strong interest from the moment that Juju was let go by the Patriots what does that tell you because Matt naggie was the quarterback's coach keep that in mind he was a QB coach the only year Juju was in Kansas City so that means means that the QB coach the year Patrick RS had his MVP season he he likes the juju that was his main guy at the wide receiver position and he wanted to bring him back and it's not likely going to be for the number one spot on this offense it's going to be more for depth purposes and that is going to be a very good thing for this Chief's team again think of your offense who you have right now across the board you have Hollywood Brown when he comes back rashy rice Xavier worthy Juju Smith Schuster micle Hardman has some speed Justin Watson has some speed and those guys are part of your depth you have Travis Kelce who's the best tight end in NFL history y Isaiah Pacho who's a hard-nosed tough Runner and has the speed who's stopping this offense what defense is is going to dominate this team if you're Patrick Mahomes you look to your right and you have Rashi rice and Xavier worthy oh they're covered no problem look to your left get Travis Kelce and JuJu Smith Schuster if they're both covered well then who do you have coming out of the back field probably Isaiah Peko maybe Clyde Edwards Air so this is a very good situation for the Chiefs Patrick Mahomes has to be loving life right now this is an offense that led the NFL on drops last year and spoiler alert still won the Super Bowl so if you can win the Super Bowl with that unit last year at the wide receiver position think about what they're going to do this year with this wide receiver group standout players across the board the Chiefs are out there getting wide receivers for chief they got Hollywood Brown on a great deal they got Juju Smith Schuster on a really good deal and for ever crazy reason the rest of the NFL allowed Xavier worthy to drop to Kansas City and of all teams to make that trade was freaking Buffalo of all teams Buffalo of all teams which I I can't comprehend but neither here nor there so good luck good luck if you're a defense that wants to stop this Chief's team yeah I think they're going to have a couple bad games that happens but man 9 times out of 100 this Chief's team is going to look really good especially on offense this is this is the situation Cory has a really good comment here from the YouTube channel uh he says Juju being a depth piece and not needing to lean on kadary Sony or Sky Moore yeah is huge 100% it's huge because look as much as I would love to give Canary Sony another shot it's just a liability at this point it's a concern you can't with full with fullon confidence how how much do you guys trust cadarius Tony yeah his potential is fun to talk about but potential is not reality so who do you who would you rather go with Juju or cadarius Tony or Sky Moore I think the answer is pretty obvious here we have a lot of questions and we're not going to get that answer until in about 28 hours maybe sooner than that we've already had a couple of reports year we know Ian book has been let go the quarterback of the Chiefs and we also have um Kyle sheets who has been let go the wide receiver that was uh trying out for the Chiefs uh listen I think the defense takes a little bit of a step back it's not going to be anything noticeable in the grand scheme of things but the offense is making big improvements this year and today only made the Chiefs offense better I know there are concerns about Juju and his health but if he's like the number four number five receiver on your team he's not going to be playing as much so if you're not playing as much the odds of you getting hurt do decrease the odds of you staying healthy increase so at the end of the day all you did is just improve your offense and I think this is a role that is much better and is more fitting for Juju Smith Shuster oh and by the way he's coming back to try to get himself another Super Bowl ring to help this Chiefs team three Pete you're Chiefs fan you got to be loving what's going on right now they have turned this wide receiver room around in the span of one off seon Brett V did this with the offensive line a couple of years ago following Super Bowl 55 and following a bad year offensively specifically with the receivers he's done the same exact thing turned this wide receiver room around last point I'll make here I don't think Andy Reid and Brett V would do this unless they really thought he was done like Andy Reid and Brett V know what the hell they're doing do they get it right 100% of the time abs absolutely not no they don't every GM misses every head coach gets it wrong at times but they don't get it wrong often not very often so I am thrilled to see where this offense is going specifically with the wide receiver room man I need the next 10 days right now like I need to see that Chiefs Ravens game right now I am eager to see what that offense is going to look like I know you all feel the exact same way so ultimately this is a Chiefs team that is moving forward and is going to be playing much better football this year you're going to see it in week one and by the way in that week two game against Cincinnati what did Cincinnati do to improve defensively not much because there are a lot of people making a big deal about how the Chiefs have a tough schedule the first two games and they do they absolutely do but with this improve the offense it's not as bad as it looks not one bit hey uh I appreciate all of you guys joining me for this Monday Morning Edition of the Chiefs podcast we normally do not do Monday morning episodes I do want to keep this short because uh I want to get this podcast out there for people to listen to in time before the 53 man roster cut tomorrow evening we will have a uh another podcast we will be recapping the 53 man roster 3M the roster Cuts will be announced the 53 man rosters will be out we will have a lot of questions answered we may still have some other questions that'll come up at that time as well keep in mind the initial 53 could still change from then until kickoff not very common but still can change uh but we're gonna have a lot of things to cover tomorrow also um not 100% yet but tonight um on my social media I am going to be making a very big announcement I really really really hope you guys like it I'd be surprised if you guys did not like it um if you guys don't like it I would be very sad I I really would be so uh please stay tuned for that hey for all of you who are watching live on Facebook and YouTube I need a huge favor from you guys um subscribe to my YouTube channel if you're watching on YouTube you already know we are starting to put a lot of content out on the YouTube channel I've had that for a year but I've kind of been slow to get that going we we've got it going now we've got a lot of things on there some comments people are starting to subscribe to that it's definitely grown in the last week but we need it to uh continue to grow so if you haven't done so already you see it on the bottom of your screen it says youtube.com thee Chief Zone that is my YouTube channel on uh on uh the Youtube that's where we do the podcast on there as well so if you guys could subscribe to that as well uh make sure you're watching the videos give them a thumbs up both on Facebook on YouTube it would be greatly appreciated it really does go a long way especially with the algorithm and now that we've got football season coming back up it would really help out a lot so we could definitely use some subscribers on the YouTube site as well again youtube.com thee Chief Zone that is the YouTube channel or just search my name or just search the chief Zone on YouTube and it should be the first one that pops up okay guys appreciate you guys joining me for this episode of the chief Zone podcast my name is far vugi and I am out I'll talk to you tomorrow