At this point, no one should be too concerned about any lingering injury for any player on any team. It's mid-June and the regular season doesn't start for nearly three months, which is plenty of time for a player to recuperate, recover, rest, or any other positive word starting wtih the letter "r".
But we also cannot help but wonder what is going on wide former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and whether or not the team dodged a proverbial bullet.
Last year at this time, Smith-Schuster was one of the most exciting new additions as a veteran receiver who'd flirted with playing with the Chiefs before. He'd arrived just in time to help the team recover from the loss of Tyreek Hill and the committee approach, led by Smith-Schuster's physical style, helped the Chiefs on another Super Bowl run.
The Patriots are still waiting on JuJu Smith-Schuster to show he's healthy this offseason.
For his part, Smith-Schuster's season played out like a storybook. He was hoping to prove his worth after an injury-plagued season with the Pittsburgh Steelers and agreed to a cheaper one-year deal with Kansas City to reset his market value. In the process, he won a ring, looked like a difference-maker, and earned a sizeable deal with the New England Patriots in free agency.
Smith-Schuster has been dealing with a knee injury since the Chiefs' postseason and New England signed him knowing it would be a process before he'd hit the field for them again. And there's plenty of time for Smith-Schuster to show what he can do considering there's still a full month or more before training camp begins for the Pats. However, it's interesting that minicamps have come and gone without an appearance on the field—or for that matter, any real update.
Does it mean anything that Smith-Schuster is not yet available? Nothing official, which is why no real conclusions can be drawn about value when a single official snap hasn't been played on a deal that reaches three seasons. But the Pats are flirting with DeAndre Hopkins as well for good reason and Smith-Schuster's knees have given him problems in both 2019 and 2020 as well, so there's a long history here.
While Smith-Schuster was an admirable performer on the Chiefs last season and we wish him the best, Veach and company might have dodged a sort of bullet here by not matching the Patriots' offer in free agency.