Who is JuJu Smith-Schuster?
He is a 20-year-old rookie from USC; he is currently one of the wide receivers for the Pittsburg Steelers. He was drafted in the second round last year to play with some of the best receivers in the league. He has made an appearance in five of the Steelers’ eight games, with a total of 424 yards and one touchdown. This past weekend was a breakout game for him. With ten targets, he caught 7 of the passes for 193 yards and his first career touchdown against Detroit.
Who is Martavis Bryant?
He is also a wide receiver on the Pittsburg Steelers. This is his third season with the team. Last year, he was suspended from the league after violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. After coming back this season, things haven’t been quite as smooth as he was hoping. With JuJu Smith-Schuster preforming at his best, Bryant doesn’t receive as many targets as he believes he should be. And after making it a public statement on social media, this past Sunday he was benched against the Lions.
Why is there tension?
After coming back after a year suspension for Bryant, he was prepared to take the spotlight back and go all out for his team. However, the rookie, JuJu Smith-Schuster, seems to be the one in the spotlight. Bryant doesn’t believe he’s contributing as much as he could and is unhappy with his role on the offense. He took out his anger on an instagram post when a fan commented that Smith-Schuster was better than him. Bryant proceeded to talk back and stated:
“…juju is no where near better than me fool all they need to do is give me what I want and y’all can have juju and whoever else.”
Although the comment was deleted shortly after, Bryant still received backlash from the public outburst. Tomlin (the Steelers’ head coach) did not put up with the hate and informed Bryant he would not be making an appearance against Detroit. The Steelers – especially – Smith-Schuster proved to everyone and themselves that they didn’t need Bryant in order to capture the win. Smith-Schuster stepped his game up and it’s looking like he has a very promising future.