New Chiefs WR1 Emerges in First Game After Rashee Rice Injury

One game after Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice suffered what is expected to be a season-ending injury, a new No. 1 wide receiver has seemingly emerged among the ranks in Kansas City. Veteran JuJu Smith-Schuster had a team-high 130 yards on seven catches during the Chiefs’ 26-13 win over the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football in Week 5.

Smith-Schuster’s seven catches and eight targets were second on the team to only tight end Travis Kelce (nine catches, 10 targets). The veteran wideout moved around the formation all evening, finding different ways to lineup and get open against New Orleans’s defense.

The longest play of the night for the Chiefs came on a 2nd-and-6 play early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Patrick Mahomes connected with Smith-Schuster over the middle of the field, and Smith-Schuster took the pass for 50 yards and put the Chiefs offense inside the Saints’ red zone.

Smith-Schuster would have had an even bigger night had he not bobbled a pass right into the hands of Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, who intercepted Mahomes’s pass in the end zone and returned it 37 yards late in the third quarter.

JuJu Smith-Schuster Not Going Away

Overall, Kansas City spread the ball out on offense in Week 5. Rookie Xavier Worthy had three catches for 25 yards and one rushing touchdown from three yards out. Mecole Hardman had four catches for 33 yards. Running back Kareem Hunt was the team’s leading rusher with 27 carries for 102 yards and one touchdown.

Though he is a little bit older now, the Chiefs simply deployed Smith-Schuster in the role he was in with the team during the 2022 season in which he had 933 receiving yards. It was the same role Rice filled when Smith-Schuster left to sign with the New England Patriots during the 2023 offseason. Though he is not quite as explosive as he was during his first stint with the Chiefs, Smith-Schuster proved in Week 5 that he can fill that role again admirably for Kansas City in the short term.

“[Smith-Schuster] stepped up. That’s the perfect way to say it,” Mahomes told the ESPN broadcast after the game. “He’s done it before with us. He knows how to go out there and get open, and today was his day. It’s gonna be by committee, it’s gonna be a lot of guys in that role. But I’m glad JuJu showed that he’s still got it, and I’m glad he’s on our football team.”

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid also spoke very highly of Smith-Schuster after the game.

“JuJu’s a good football player. He’s been a good football player for a long time,” Reid said during his postgame press conference, via Jordan Foote of Kansas City Chiefs on SI. He had the one down in the end zone that got tipped — he felt terrible about that. Then he comes back with two huge ones. He’s a pro.”

X Users React to JuJu Smith-Schuster Performance

Users on X, formerly Twitter, reacted to Smith-Schuster’s performance against the Saints on Monday Night Football.

“The Chiefs lost this generation’s JuJu Smith-Schuster in Rashee Rice to injury and now they’ve just got the original model out there doing the exact same duties,” Matt Harmon of Yahoo Fantasy wrote.

“Juju Smith-Schuster was the leading WR on a Chiefs Super Bowl team, took a 15-month break from relevancy to earn $16m from the Patriots & is now going to be the leading WR on a Chiefs Super Bowl team. finesse king,” David Helman of FOX Sports wrote.