3 reasons Steelers should let JuJu Smith-Schuster be an outside receiver

Diontae Johnson has the better makeup as a slot option

If Pittsburgh didn’t have a good option in the slot aside from Smith-Schuster I could see wanting to put your best guy in the slot, as it would make the position at least serviceable. Yet, JuJu with his size would be a better fit on the outside of the formation. A lot of the best slot receivers the league has ever seen were smaller, shifter players that could get open quick and make guys miss for extra yardage.

That is where Diontae Johnson enters the picture. Johnson might be the best route-runner on the roster. I also don’t believe that there is anyone in black and gold more dangerous with the ball in their hands that isn’t a rookie. Najee Harris might be just as or even more dangerous but I haven’t seen him take a professional snap yet.

In today’s game, the slot receiver tends to have the most room to work with, and after seeing Johnson’s moves the past two seasons, he is the kind of player I want to get the ball to in space. He is incredibly shifty and can make a lot of guys miss. While JuJu can flat out run guys over, he gets slowed down breaking tackles and that allows the rest of the defense to rally to the ball. Johnson avoids contact with the best of them and that affords him the better chance to turn a 5-yard route into a 12-yard reception.

Even in a more traditional sense, Johnson looks like a slot receiver. Wes Welker is believed by many to be the best slot receiver of all time. He was listed at 5’9 185 lbs. Johnson is listed at 5’10 183 lbs. Johnson has the best size and skillset for the slot position out of anyone in the Steelers’ current group of pass-catchers. It would be an added bonus that with more space, and with shorter pass attempts, it should help quell the dropping problem that Johnson had as a rookie which only seemed to get worse in 2020.

JuJu would have more opportunity to make big plays, space the field for his teammates, and allow the more traditional version of a slot receiver to line up on the inside if he gets what he wants. The Steelers should absolutely do what they can to give #19 more opportunities on the outside. If it doesn’t work out they can always put him back in the slot. Yet, I believe that if they do line him up outside more consistently, they won’t want to.