The previous two quarterbacks that wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster worked with in the NFL likely are bound for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. During his five seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Smith-Schuster caught passes from Ben Roethlisberger. In 2022, Smith-Schuster played with Patrick Mahomes on the Kansas City Chiefs.

After joining the New England Patriots this offseason as a free agent, Smith-Schuster said he’s eager to work with quarterback Mac Jones.

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“Just watching film and just watching him, I mean, that dude loves, breathes New England,” Smith-Schuster said during a Tuesday appearance on “Zolak and Bertrand” on WBZ-FM in Boston. “He’s the definition of a Patriot. Even in my short time, my 24 hours of being in New England, he was there, constantly working out with the guys, just getting after it, getting in the books. I mean, he’s a rookie Pro Bowler, so the dude has a lot of potential there, and I can’t wait to get right with him.

“I played with Ben where he controlled the offense and I played with Pat Mahomes where he can extend the offense, and coming to a place where timing is perfection and getting that down is something I can play with and I can get used to, and he has that potential.”

Smith-Schuster was the Chiefs’ top wide receiver during the 2022 season, when he caught 78 passes for 933 yards and three touchdowns.

In 79 NFL regular-season games, Smith-Schuster has 401 receptions for 4,788 yards and 29 touchdowns. He went to the Pro Bowl in 2018, when he had 111 receptions for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns. In six playoff games, Smith-Schuster has 31 receptions for 277 yards and two touchdowns.

The Patriots signed Smith-Schuster after losing Jakobi Meyers, New England’s top wide receiver for the previous three seasons, in free agency. Meyers joined the Las Vegas Raiders after catching 67 passes for 804 yards and six touchdowns in 2022.

In 60 regular-season games with the Patriots, Meyers had 235 receptions for 2,758 yards and eight touchdowns. In his only playoff appearance, Meyers had six receptions for 40 yards.

“Jakobi Meyers, he’s a great player,” Smith-Schuster said. “He’s done a lot of stuff in his career. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m better than him. I’m not going to take that away from him because he’s done some great things. But, obviously, we both play the position, we both have different skills, talents, so we both bring a little bit different skills to the game.”

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From 2007 through 2019, New England had 16 1,000-yard receivers in 13 seasons. But the Patriots haven’t had one since Julian Edelman had 1,117 receiving yards in 2019.

New England finished 20th in passing yards among the NFL’s 32 teams in the 2022 season, a drop from 14th during Jones’ rookie season.

In 2022, former Patriots defensive coordinator and Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia called the plays for New England, which did not have a designated offensive coordinator on staff after Josh McDaniels had held that role for previous 10 seasons. McDaniels departed in 2022 to become the head coach of the Raiders.

In 2023, Jones, Smith-Schuster and the rest of the Patriots’ offense will be directed by Bill O’Brien. Like Jones, a first-round pick in 2021, New England got O’Brien from Alabama, where he’d worked the previous two seasons as offensive coordinator.

O’Brien returned to the Patriots after serving as an offensive assistant in 2007, wide receivers coach in 2008, quarterbacks coach from 2009 through 2011 and offensive coordinator in 2011.

During those five seasons, New England finished in the top three in the NFL in passing yards three times, and in O’Brien’s season as the offensive coordinator, the Patriots set a franchise record with 5,084 yards with Tom Brady at quarterback.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.