Art Rooney II happy Steelers were able to retain JuJu Smith-Schuster

After exploring the open market, JuJu Smith-Schuster opted to remain in Pittsburgh, signing a one-year, $8 million deal. 

The Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs made pushes to sign the wide receiver, but he ultimately decided to remain loyal to the franchise that drafted him. That made team president Art Rooney II particularly happy. 

"JuJu was an important part of our offense last year and has been for the last few years," Rooney said in a recent call with fans, according to Teresa Varley of Steelers.com. "We were certainly hopeful that we would be able to sign JuJu back. The one thing about JuJu is he really wanted to come back and that certainly helped a lot. I'm glad we got him back. I look forward to him having another good year for us in 2021."

Smith-Schuster's decision to remain in Pittsburgh might not entirely be out of loyalty, though. The market this year is weak because of the decreased salary cap. His one-year deal will benefit him in the long run, allowing him to sign a larger extension when things are hopefully back to normal in 2022. 

The 24-year-old also reportedly didn't have much of a market this offseason because of concerns surrounding his health. According to Steelers insider Dejan Kovacevic, Smith-Schuster has been dealing with a nagging knee injury since the middle of the 2020 season. 

Kovacevic said that the injury was so bad that he would require almost regular drainings of fluid from his knee before games. He wound up sitting out several practices leading up to the Steelers' playoff game against the Cleveland Browns because of it.

Of course, he didn't miss a game in 2020, but if his knee injury isn't fully healed, that's cause for concern heading into the 2021 campaign. Regardless, the Steelers are happy Smith-Schuster is back and he's happy to be back, too.