JuJu Smith-Schuster’s interest in the Raiders might be mutual

JuJu Smith-Schuster was the first to express his desire to become a Las Vegas Raider, and now it appears that the interest might be mutual.

Smith-Schuster is one of several top free agent wide receivers available in NFL free agency, which starts on March 17 at 1 p.m. PT.

We discussed the possibility last month after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ free agent mentioned the Raiders as a potential landing spot. Frankly, most of you weren’t into it as our poll indicated.

Now however, we need to revisit it because longtime NFL reporter John Clayton (and friend of this community) reported on Thursday that he expects the Raiders to have interest in Smith-Schuster, who had 97 catches for the Steelers in 2020.

This means we may have to pay more attention to the potential pairing, whether we like it or not ... but my thoughts on it don’t change.

The Raiders are going to have to be smart in free agency and most of their resources (that means money, baby) will need to go to the defense. The offense isn’t the problem.

Giving JuJu a big contract and neglecting the defensive holes would be unwise.

Plus, Las Vegas may be better off trying to re-sign Nelson Agholor. He may be older than Smith-Schuster — who is just 24 — but Agholor is a good fit and he will likely be much cheaper.