Entering the 2021 season, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was the second-longest-tenured player on the offense for the Pittsburgh Steelers, behind only quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who is almost old enough to be his father.
Though just 24 years old, Smith-Schuster was in his fifth season this year and pretty much the ‘wily veteran’ of an overall pretty young offense, which this year features four rookie starters, not to mention a couple of second-year starters, as well.
Aside from his experience, his going down with a shoulder injury is also just a human loss that the locker room will have to process.