JuJu Smith-Schuster will soon get another ring.
The veteran wide receiver, who won the Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022, is getting married in July. That makes it a busy wedding season for some associated with the team.
His former teammate and fellow groom-to-be Travis Kelce is, of course, marrying Taylor Swift this summer.
“My advice to TK, man, if you see this, man, all I gotta say is just enjoy the process,” Smith-Schuster recently told NBC Local while promoting Just For Men Gray Reverse Daily Hair Serum. “Obviously, wifey is gonna want what she wants, just do it. That’s gonna be happy wife, happy life, and that’s all I gotta say.”
Smith-Schuster and Kelce lined up alongside one another again last season in Kansas City, but he said the two didn’t have many discussions about their wedding plans.
“Not so much, but he’s gonna have a great wedding, I’m gonna have a great wedding,” he said. “We’re gonna be attending both of them.”
The 29-year-old Smith-Schuster, who completed his second stint with the Chiefs last season, remains a free agent ahead of what would be his 10th NFL season.
“Just taking it day-by-day as far as free agency goes,” he said. “Just speaking to teams as far as where I fit best in this next process going into year 10.”
Smith-Schuster had 345 receiving yards and one touchdown on 33 receptions across 17 games for the Chiefs last season – numbers that were well below his first stint with the Chiefs in 2022, when he had 933 yards and three touchdowns on 78 catches.
But he feels he has the ability and veteran leadership to make an impact.
“What I can bring to the team as that veteran, being able to keep the room together, keep them on the right track of what it takes to win,” he said. “I’ve been a part of a Super Bowl winning room, and I would say that helps a lot as far as making plays on the field. Pretty much can do anything as far as reading defense, understanding the game plan, whether that’s running, whether that’s blocking, whether that’s catching. Then just doing the overall job. I feel like I had one of the best hands in the league.”
He showed that early in his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who selected him in the second round of the 2017 draft. Smith-Schuster had a Pro Bowl season in his second year, with career-highs of 1,426 receiving yards and 111 receptions. He spent the first five seasons of his career with Pittsburgh and was open to a return had there been mutual interest in a reunion. His former coach Mike Tomlin in January then stepped down as head coach of the Steelers after 19 seasons.
“I was pretty bummed about Coach Tomlin,” he said. “Being in a place where that was my first place to start and he’s not there … I think that was something I was open to with Coach Tomlin being there, but with him obviously stepping down, now it kind of looks a little different. I loved the way he coaches, the way he plays and the way he goes about business. Not sure what he’s gonna be doing next, but whatever he is doing, nothing but the best.”
Tomlin is one of three likely Hall of Fame coaches Smith-Schuster has played under in his NFL career, along with Andy Reid and Bill Belichick, who was snubbed on his first ballot in January.
“I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, I just know that he should have been one of those guys to get that first ballot,” said Smith-Schuster, who played for the New England Patriots in Belichick’s final season with the team in 2023. “As far as him being the best of the best, he had a crazy dynasty run.”
He was also impressed by how quickly the Patriots turned things around last season by reaching the Super Bowl, crediting Mike Vrabel, who he called a players’ coach who “knows how to bring guys closer,” and quarterback Drake Maye, who he was very briefly teammates with during the 2024 offseason.
“Drake when I first got around and played with him, I was like, ‘No, this guy’s the real deal,’” he said. “So you put a good O-line in front of him, a good defense, I could see them making some noise again next year.”
He also had high praise for another of his former quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes.
“His vision of play is a lot bigger in a sense of seeing the whole field no matter where you’re at,” he said. “As long as you got that Chiefs logo on, he’s definitely seeing you. He’s a playmaker.”
Smith-Schuster said he wasn’t surprised to see 36-year-old Kelce sign an extension amid retirement speculation.
“I think he’s in a place where he just loves ball so much,” he said. “I cant see him leaving, not anytime soon … Just being around him, he’s the type of guy that doesn’t back down, so he’s gonna jeep fighting as long as he can and I think he’s still got it.”
He also enjoyed being around for the “Taylor” era in Kansas City.
“She’s just normal like us,” he said. “Very cool, chill.”
And he said he got to sample her baking.
“Fire,” he said. “She’s a baker. She can bake. Yeah, she’s good at that.”
Smith-Schuster said he’s open anything after his playing days are over, including coaching, broadcasting or flag football when it debuts at the Olympics in 2028.
“If it comes down to playing for your nationality, I’m half Samoan, I would love to play for Samoa,” he said. “That would be pretty cool as far as putting on for our culture and our nationality.”
But he still says he has the fire in him to play in the NFL as he approaches his 30th birthday. Now called “unc” by younger teammates, he said he partnered with Just for Men to help prevent gray hair and keep him looking youthful on the field and at his wedding.
“We’re trying to leave the grays behind and get ahead of the curve, and just keep you young,” he said. “Gotta get the young guys to stop calling me ‘unc.’”
As for his wedding day outfit, Smith-Schuster — who in 2024 launched his own clothing line AFI, which means “fire” in Samoan — isn’t quite ready to reveal those details just yet.
“That’s a secret,” he said. ”I can’t give too much on that, but it’s gonna be awesome, it’s gonna be fun. My wife is planning a lot of the other things, the details. I’m gonna just show up looking fly.”
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