The Kansas City Chiefs had two separate 100-yard receivers for the first time during the 2022 NFL season on Sunday. The team hadn’t more than a single 100-yard receiver in a game since Week 15 of the 2021 NFL season, when Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill exploded against the Chargers on “Thursday Night Football.”
Kelce put together his second 100-yard receiving performance in Week 6 and he was joined by free-agent WR JuJu Smith-Schuster. It marked his first career 100-yard receiving performance since Week 8 of 2019 and his first in Kansas City. He also happened to score his first career touchdown with the Chiefs.
“It felt amazing,” Smith-Schuster said following the game. “It’s a great feeling running into that endzone in this uniform and this atmosphere. Scoring touchdowns here is what I came here to do.”
Patrick Mahomes said that every receiver in the offense would have his day — and Sunday seemed to be that day for Smith-Schuster. He downplayed the performance and was clearly not satisfied as the results didn’t match.
“I’m just doing what I’m told – as far as to help out the team as much as possible,” Smith-Schuster said. “I just know when my number is called I’m just going to have to make my plays. The receiver group – we stepped up on some big plays (on) third down. Mecole (Hardman) and Skyy (Moore) making plays and Quez (Marquez Valdes-Scantling) down the field – that’s just what we do, but we came up short today.”
Still, this is what the Chiefs set out to accomplish with their changes at the wide receiver position this offseason. Ultimately, Smith-Schuster believes this was just the tip of the iceberg for him as well. He’s been studying closely how Kelce works with Mahomes each week and he’s trying to emulate that in order to build more trust and chemistry.
“Honestly, I feel like I’ve been building that chemistry with (Patrick Mahomes),” Smith-Schuster said. “I’ve seen what him and Trav (Kelce) have and how they work every single day. I’m trying to get to that point where – we’re all trying to get to that point – the ball’s being thrown in the air and he trusts us.”
That performance in Week 6 will go a long way toward earning the trust of both the quarterback and the coaching staff. All Smith-Schuster must do is keep his foot on the gas.
