Should I Drop JuJu Smith-Schuster In Week 5? Fantasy Football Outlook

October 5, 2023

Should I drop New England Patriots wide reciever JuJu Smith-Schuster for fantasy football Week 5? Is Smith-Schuster a safe player to cut? Read the 2023 fantasy football waivers outlook.

After bursting onto the scene in Ben Roethlisberger's waning years with 2,342 receiving yards in his first two seasons, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has had a roller-coaster NFL career. His production fell off quite a bit over the next three years, never topping 831 yards and missing over fifteen games due to injury.

The speedster enjoyed a resurgent sixth season catching passes from 2x NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes and parlayed that into a three-year, $25M contract with the New England Patriots this offseason. He was seen as a key addition to a New England offense that was in dire need of playmakers, especially at the WR position.

Even with the addition of the former 2017 second-round pick, the Pats offense has struggled quite a bit through the first quarter of the season. What does that mean for Smith-Schuster moving forward? Is he worth rostering at this point in the season?

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Is JuJu Smith-Schuster A Reliable Fantasy Football Asset?

To put it mildly, the stars have not aligned in Foxborough yet this season. Former Texans head coach Bill O'Brien was hired as the offensive coordinator after the disaster that was Matt Patricia in 2022, but it has not led to positive results. The Patriots (1-3) rank 12th in passing yards, 23rd in rushing, and 30th in total points scored.

Third-year quarterback Mac Jones has not appeared to have taken any sort of step forward, and question marks around his ability to be a franchise QB have never been larger. This has not led to a positive fantasy environment for many players, including Smith-Schuster.

The former USC product currently ranks as the WR86 in PPR scoring through four weeks, after being drafted as the WR44 in 2023 drafts. While he wasn't expected to be a fantasy stud this season, he's underperforming ADP by almost 40 spots, which is, to put it simply, horrible.

One small bright spot in his season thus far is that he ranks 48th in targets (5.3 per game), so he's not seeing an awful amount of volume. This is still well below what fantasy managers expected thus far though, and his 21 total targets also rank third on his team behind Kendrick Bourne and Hunter Henry. The Patriots have faced a gauntlet of defenses thus far, squaring off against the Cowboys, Eagles, and Jets already, but that is not an excuse for how poorly their offense has performed.

Can I Drop JuJu Smith-Schuster in Fantasy Football?

After a 38-3 shellacking at the hands of the Cowboys in which Smith-Schuster caught only one pass, he has officially hit the "should drop" territory. The speedster looks like he's lost a step this season, and while the Patriots offense can't get much worse than it was last game, there are plenty of other guys on the waiver wire that can provide some legitimate help with roster depth as bye weeks start to hit. JuJu ain't one of 'em.

A couple of popular waiver wire receiver options I would rather have on my roster right now: Rashee Rice (KC), Jayden Reed (GB), Wan'Dale Robinson (NYG), and even Calvin Austin III (PIT). Better to stash someone with actual upside that could potentially come on a bit later in the year. The odds of that happening with Smith-Schuster at this point are almost zero.

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