For JuJu Smith-Schuster, the best thing about this year is it isn’t last year.
The Patriots receiver estimates he was at 60 percent this time last year when the Patriots began their organized team activities. He was still rehabbing a knee procedure he underwent after the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII.
Now entering this second season with the Patriots, Smith-Schuster is 100 percent healthy.
“It’s a big difference,” Smith Schuster said Monday, via Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald. “It’s not easy coming off a knee injury and having a long season and coming back really short. . . . I feel great, honestly. I feel great. I’ve never felt better. I’m just excited to finally be out here around this time and participating.”
Smith-Schuster said he never got back to 100 percent, which played a role in the second-worst season of his career. He caught 29 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown in 11 games after signing a three-year, $33 million deal with the Patriots.
“I’ve always wanted to just push through and play,” Smith-Schuster said. “I had some injuries that I was dealing with, and I just kept pushing through it and playing. That’s just the competitiveness in me. I don’t mind that. So this year it’s a lot different than how it was.”
Smith-Schuster finished the season on injured reserve.
But he’s healthy now and ready to get back to helping the team.
