Kansas City Chiefs at Jacksonville Jaguars
After an 0-2 start to the season, the Chiefs have shown life, winning consecutive games against the Giants and Ravens. As you’d imagine, the public is starting to believe in Patrick Mahomes and company, and money has come in all over the Chiefs in primetime. This strikes me as a tough game from a side perspective as well as with props, but I do have one angle to potentially attack in the Kansas City passing game.
Xavier Worthy’s return last week shook up the target share for the Chiefs, most notably hurting Tyquan Thornton. After three big weeks, Thornton saw a significant dip in snaps and was targeted only twice — although, he turned his lone reception into an 11-yard touchdown. The receiver that has been least impacted by Worthy’s status is JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Outside of a poor game against the Eagles (one reception for five yards on three targets), Smith-Schuster’s role has remained consistent. He played his typical snaps against Philly, but the matchup just didn’t work in his favor. In the other three games of the season, JuJu has combined to haul in 13-of-15 targets for 146 yards. He has no fewer than four receptions or 36 yards in any of those three games. It was also encouraging to see that JuJu got a season-high six targets last week, in the game that he shared the field with Worthy.
Jacksonville has been strong against the run this season, but has shown some weaknesses against the pass — ranking 23rd overall in yards allowed. The Jags gave up over 300 yards through the air their last time out to an injured Brock Purdy and the Niners. Smith-Schuster has pretty modest props of 2.5 receptions (-166) to the over and 28.5 receiving yards. I think we see him remain involved in the offense, and get a few catches for 30-40 yards. If you’re looking for a player prop to back at a low number, JuJu Smith-Schuster’s receving props are worth a look.
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