Like it or not, the comparisons between Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown are going to come. The Steelers traded Brown to the Raiders after both guys topped 100 receptions in 2018. Pittsburgh is confident in Smith-Schuster but it remains to be seen which guy will perform better in 2019.
We are all obviously rooting for Smith-Schuster. The young wide receiver is a budding star in the league. He will now become the focus of the passing offense for Ben Roethlisberger. Can Smith-Schuster top the 111 receptions he got last season? Probably not but objectively speaking, he should still be more productive than Brown.
The main reason being the quarterbacks. Raiders’ quarterback Derek Carr is a solid player but Roethlisberger is headed to the Hall of Fame. The Raiders could be playing from behind a lot and should be slinging the football all over, but the connection between Brown and Roethlisberger is what made things work. There’s no way Carr and Brown will be on the same page like that this early.
