The New England Patriots signed wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster to a three-year, $33 million contract in NFL free agency earlier this month.
In order to earn the full value of the contract, he'll have to hit some incentives tied to performance.
ESPN's Mike Reiss reported the details of those incentives Thursday.
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2023
- $750,000 for 950 receiving yards
- $750,000 for 1,100 receiving yards
2024 and 2025
- $1 million for 800 receiving yards
- $1 million for 950 receiving yards
- $1 million for 1,100 receiving yards
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Smith-Schuster has tallied 800-plus receiving yards in four of his six pro seasons. His career high is 1,426 yards set in 2018 with the Pittsburgh Steelers -- his second season. He posted 78 receptions for 933 yards with three touchdowns for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in 2022.
Hitting 950 receiving yards in 2023 is doable for Smith-Schuster, but it's far from a lock. The Patriots offense spreads the ball around to a bunch of pass catchers, including running backs. Jakobi Meyers, who left to join the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency, led all Patriots players with 804 receiving yards last season. No other Patriots wideout had more than 539 receiving yards.
The offense should be better in 2023 with Bill O'Brien running the show as the new offensive coordinator, so if Smith-Schuster plays a full season, he could maybe get to 950 yards. Hitting 1,100 yards in any of the next three seasons seems pretty unlikely, though. Smith-Schuster has crossed that threshold only once in his career. He didn't even get to 1,000 with Patrick Mahomes as his quarterback last season.
Still, adding Smith-Schuster was a quality move for the Patriots, who needed to surround quarterback Mac Jones with more dynamic weapons at the skill positions.