Colts: 3 free agents Indy must avoid this offseason
By Jerry Trotta
2. JuJu Smith-Schuster
JuJu Smith-Schuster is too fixated on social media for the Colts’ liking…we hope.
The Colts are expected to be in the market for a wide receiver this offseason and if they really wanted to see their offense to take a monster leap, they would go all out for a surefire No. 1 option. That could end up signaling the end of TY Hilton’s tenure, but with so much at stake the front office must have a ruthless approach.
While it could be argued that JuJu Smith-Schuster has all the requisite intangibles to fill that bill, his displays this past season (both on and off the field) were enough to convince us that the Colts should steer clear of him this offseason. There were just too many occasions in 2020 where the former second-round pick seemed more concerned about posting TikToks than winning games.
Like many potential free agent suitors, our stance on Smith-Schuster was made up during the first round of the playoffs when he was caught breaking out in dance mid-play while the Steelers were getting steamrolled by the Browns…who were playing without their head coach and several vital assistants due to COVD-19 protocols, by the way.
The fact of the matter is that Smith-Schuster is far too inconsistent from a production standpoint for the Colts (or any team, for that matter) to tolerate his off-field antics. For context, the four-year pro has registered 1,383 receiving yards over the last two seasons, which is 43 yards less than what he compiled during his 2018 Pro Bowl campaign alone.
To shed further light on Smith-Schuster’s struggles, he’s produced just two 100-yard games across the last two seasons and has a whopping 16 games with under 60 receiving yards during that span. If it were up to us, the Colts wouldn’t get involved with him this offseason.
Not only are the 24-year-old’s priorities all out of sorts, but his production since Antonio Brown left Pittsburgh and he was thrust into No. 1 duties proves that he isn’t the answer Indianapolis should be looking for at wide receiver.