Chiefs Agree to Amended Contract With JuJu Smith-Schuster

KC gives its projected top wideout the opportunity to earn some more money this season.

The Kansas City Chiefs just wrapped up their 2022 preseason and although wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has been nursing a knee injury as of late, he received some positive news on Friday. Per Field Yates of ESPN, Kansas City is amending its top wideout's contract.

The Chiefs agreed to an amended contract for WR JuJu Smith-Schuster that increases his per-game roster bonus from $30K to $60K, per source. Smith-Schuster can now earn an extra $510K via per-game bonuses this year. Nice touch by the Chiefs to give him a chance for more upside.

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Field Yates (@FieldYates) on Friday, Aug. 26 at 8:53 a.m. CST

Under the amended deal, Smith-Schuster will see his per-game roster bonuses be doubled. In the NFL's 17-game regular season format, this creates up to $510,000 in potential additional earnings for the 25-year-old to earn in the upcoming 2022 campaign. Back in March when Smith-Schuster signed with the Chiefs, Joshua Brisco of Arrowhead Report broke down what the original contract could look like and how it could hypothetically benefit the Chiefs:  

Even assuming that the Chiefs may not have gone quite that extreme and could have set incentives somewhere around the 40-catch/500-yard/five-touchdown mark (or even higher, in a more traditional incentive format), it's hard to imagine that Smith-Schuster would have any incentives in his new deal that would be considered LTBE, based on his injury-shortened season and corresponding statistics. And, of course, there's no guarantee that all of the incentives are practically likely, but for a hotly recruited free agent to agree to a deal that's more than two-thirds incentives, it seems likely that the Chiefs got at least somewhat creative, helping them save a considerable amount of cap space in 2022. 

At the time of signing, Smith-Schuster's contract was a one-year pact for $3.25 million and contained up to $7.5M more in a loaded unorthodox incentives package. It includes incentives at the 40, 50 and 65-reception marks, as well as other incentives for increasing amounts of receiving yards and playing time. On top of that, Smith-Schuster can earn another $2M by making the Pro Bowl ($1M incentive) and playing at least 50% of Kansas City's snaps in AFC Championship and Super Bowl wins ($500,000 each). 

Now, with his per-game bonuses on the rise, the former Pittsburgh Steelers standout will have every reason to have a great 2022. The Chiefs gave tight end Travis Kelce a raise in July, and August brought a potential bump in pay for another pass-catcher almost exactly a month later.