JuJu Smith-Schuster's Big Game Earns Praise from Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid: 'He's a Pro'

JuJu Smith-Schuster was never projected to be one of KC's top pass catchers in 2024, but on Monday night, Smith-Schuster returned to form in prime time.

Oct 7, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (9) runs the ball against the New Orleans Saints during the first half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

It may be an understatement to say that the Kansas City Chiefs are shorthanded at wide receiver. With Rashee Rice and Marquise "Hollywood" Brown both sidelined for the foreseeable future — perhaps the entire 2024 season — the team had just five active wide receivers for their 26-13 win over the New Orleans Saints. On Monday night, the team's most recently signed wide receiver led the team in receiving yards. Veteran pass catcher JuJu Smith-Schuster, now in his second stint with the Chiefs after returning to Kansas City on August 26, hauled in seven catches for 130 yards in prime time.

As noted by Benjamin Solak of ESPN, Smith-Schuster's 130 receiving yards are his most in a game since January 10, 2021 — a 13-catch, 157-yard performance in a wild card loss as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That game was 1,366 days before the almost-28-year-old Smith-Schuster put up 130 yards on Monday night.

After the game, Smith-Schuster's quarterback and head coach both had praise for how the veteran performed, even in spite of a goal line deflection that resulted in an interception. Andy Reid acknowledged the red zone mistake while lauding Smith-Schuster for his ability to perform when his number was called again later in the game.

"JuJu's a good football player," Reid said. "He's been a good football player for a long time. He had the one down in the end zone that got tipped, and he felt terrible about that. Then he comes back with two huge ones. He's a pro and does a great job with that."

The man on the other end of the connection, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, leaned on his familiar receiver on Monday night, delivering eight targets to Smith-Schuster, second-most on the team behind Travis Kelce's 10. After the game, Mahomes explained why Smith-Schuster was able to hit the ground running despite joining the team in late August.

"He has a good feel for the entire concept of the play," Mahomes said. "So he knows how to get into the open spots, he has a good understanding of my timing, so some of those things, I can hit him early in some windows maybe that aren't necessarily taught, it's just learned over reps. I thought he did a good job today of just doing that, find those windows, beating man when they played man, and in zone, find the windows to get big catches."

Read More: Four Takeaways from the Kansas City Chiefs' 26-13 Win Over the New Orleans Saints