Steelers JuJu Smith-Schuster a full participant at practice, but may not play vs. Jets

The Steelers have been without their top receiver for over a month. Here’s why JuJu Smith-Schuster could be absent again as Pittsburgh faces the Jets.

To the surprise of many, the Steelers have had a good bit of success in the absence of JuJu Smith-Schuster. While Pittsburgh has won 3 of 4 games with him out of the lineup, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t welcome their top wide receiver back with open arms.

JuJu was a full participant in practice on Friday, but he admits that his knee is not 100 percent. According to Brooke Pryor of ESPN, his status for Sunday’s game against the Jets is up in the air:

This is not the type of news that fans were hoping to hear. After suffering a concussion in the loss to the Browns back in Week 11, JuJu additionally dealt with a knee injury that has made him unavailable to play over the past month.

While many expected him to make his return in New York this week, it’s looking like the third year wideout won’t be in pads. The Steelers had some real trouble moving the ball against the league’s second-ranked scoring defense last week, but Devlin Hodges played so poorly that it’s hard to imagine things going much better with JuJu on the field.

During Smith-Schuster’s absence, however, Hodges has developed excellent chemistry with wide receiver James Washington – who is having the best stretch of football of his NFL career. Additionally, rookie Diontae Johnson has stepped up his game without JuJu on the field.

When JuJu does indeed return, it’s hard to predict exactly how targets will be divvied up. Still, any help is needed to get the wheels turning on this offense that has been poor all season.

Pittsburgh is slightly favored against the Jets, but with an offense that has scored just 15.2 points per game over their past five contests, nothing is set in stone.

Having JuJu on the field would give the Steelers the best chance of leaving New York with a win. We don’t want him to reinjure his knee, but Pittsburgh will need a spark on offense soon if they want to secure the final wildcard spot in the AFC this season.