Four years ago, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster waited through all of Thursday night and into Friday night to get drafted. What stands out the most for him wasn’t the phone call he got from the Steelers at No. 62 but an unrelated call that came before it.
“I got a phone call and it was my Postmates from McDonald’s,” Smith-Schuster recently told PFT PM when asked about the one lingering memory from his draft experience. “It was outside. I got so hype because on that day you tell your friends, you tell your family, ‘Hey, don’t message me on this day between this time and this time. I’m expecting phone calls from a team or head coach or owners.’ I was so nervous. I was so hungry. I was like, ‘Man before I go to the NFL, I’m going to have one of my favorite meals from McDonald’s.’ Ordered McDonald’s, I get a phone call. I’m thinking like, ‘It’s a coach.’ I’m looking at the area code I’m not familiar with. It’s Laguna Beach or Newport Beach. And it’s a number I’m not familiar with, and I answer and it’s ‘Hey, your food’s outside.’ I’m just like, ‘Hello? Coach?’ That’s probably the funniest moment from my draft day I can remember.”
Despite the wait for his McDonald’s and the longer wait for his NFL destiny, it has worked out for Smith-Schuster in Pittsburgh. For more from him, including why he decided to stay in Pittsburgh and the lessons learned from his infamous “Browns is the Browns” remark from the 2020 postseason, check out the full interview.