We have yet to see New England Patriots receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on the practice field, and the reasoning behind that might be chalked up to simply precautionary measures.
Smith-Schuster suffered a knee injury in the third quarter of last season’s AFC Championship with the Kansas City Chiefs. Granted, he did manage to return two weeks later for a solid performance to help the team win Super Bowl LVII.
But according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the Patriots have been “cautious” with Smith-Schuster, which could be the reason why he hasn’t been on the field at OTAs.
When discussing the receiver situation in New England, Reiss wrote:
But considering the team has been cautious with offseason addition JuJu Smith-Schuster (a knee injury knocked him out of the AFC Championship Game) this spring by keeping him off the field, and a source said Tyquan Thornton is managing a soft-tissue-related injury after he was active early in OTAs, a case could be made that voluntarily thinning the receiver ranks would be a risk not worth taking.
Reiss was discussing the possibility of the team moving on from DeVante Parker or Kendrick Bourne in the event of a DeAndre Hopkins deal, and how the health of Smith-Schuster and Tyquan Thornton could possibly factor into a decision like that.
Mandatory minicamp is slated to begin on Monday. We’ll see if Smith-Schuster is able to return to the field as a full participant or in some limited capacity.
