JuJu Smith-Schuster has only been in the league for two years, but he's seen a lot, thanks to the good and bad of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The wide receiver has had the privilege of playing alongside Le'Veon Bell, Ben Roethlisberger and especially Antonio Brown. That's brought a lot of drama into his life, perhaps too much, even for the ham that Smith-Schuster is.
The same drama might tear apart his beloved team.
"I really don't have control of that," Smith-Schuster said of the Steelers' current roster situation during an appearance on the *RapSheet and Friends* podcast. "In my dream world, what would I have? I would have Le'Veon Bell at running back with James Conner. I'd have A.B. stay on the other side. And win the Super Bowl with the guys that we have, the guys that we keep.
"Obviously it's tough, situations like that, where you can't control. ... For me, it's more so. Let's keep the guys on the team and let's win the Super Bowl. Let's stop all the bull----."
The Steelers missed the playoffs despite owning a 7-2-1 record after 10 games, falling apart late in the season, save for a then-crucial win over the New England Patriots in December. Losses in winnable games ultimately sunk them, though, in a campaign that didn't include Bell due to a contract dispute.
That campaign also didn't include Brown in Week 17 due to the since-publicized drama in the lead-up to Pittsburgh's eventual win over Cincinnati. Now it appears as though two of the Steelers' most important players could be headed elsewhere.
"For sure. It's opened up my eyes (to the business side of football)," Smith-Schuster said. "Just because the situation with [Le'Veon Bell], the whole money situation. It opened up my eyes from that point of view. And the situation with A.B. obviously that's stuff that he's dealing with, and that's what they have to handle. I'm just focused on my campaign, how I can get getter and increase my role."
The horse-blinders approach is probably best for Smith-Schuster, whose role only figures to expand in the absence of Bell and/or Brown. After all, he's only 22 years old. His best years are ahead of him.
