diff --git a/db/docs/merge_request_reviewers.yml b/db/docs/merge_request_reviewers.yml
index f5da9105557a75a4c85e13d197eaa98730ca094d..719d3b268b6b7b96322b779e3dd8c502773153b0 100644
--- a/db/docs/merge_request_reviewers.yml
+++ b/db/docs/merge_request_reviewers.yml
@@ -8,14 +8,6 @@ description: Store allocated reviewers for merge requests
 introduced_by_url: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/40358
 milestone: '13.4'
 gitlab_schema: gitlab_main_cell
-desired_sharding_key:
-  project_id:
-    references: projects
-    backfill_via:
-      parent:
-        foreign_key: merge_request_id
-        table: merge_requests
-        sharding_key: target_project_id
-        belongs_to: merge_request
-desired_sharding_key_migration_job_name: BackfillMergeRequestReviewersProjectId
 table_size: medium
+sharding_key:
+  project_id: projects
diff --git a/db/post_migrate/20250225075411_validate_merge_request_reviewers_project_id_not_null.rb b/db/post_migrate/20250225075411_validate_merge_request_reviewers_project_id_not_null.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f603494827afee2958f0bd940ded8ff12bfcabad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/post_migrate/20250225075411_validate_merge_request_reviewers_project_id_not_null.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class ValidateMergeRequestReviewersProjectIdNotNull < Gitlab::Database::Migration[2.2]
+  milestone '17.10'
+
+  def up
+    validate_not_null_constraint :merge_request_reviewers, :project_id, constraint_name: 'check_fb72c99774'
+  end
+
+  def down
+    # no-op
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema_migrations/20250225075411 b/db/schema_migrations/20250225075411
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bd26a073b9b9c86d80958ef2b9b1d892571d9a3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/schema_migrations/20250225075411
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+35a1734f39a9083879dd1850b1b7b77e4c5993d40ce5c52ad4ed26fe83ca74cc
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/structure.sql b/db/structure.sql
index c96edb029578ccfe8f2ecd94d5e889cf2bac6b01..f41e75216d7427c54f3ffa1d075e094a2bd744ab 100644
--- a/db/structure.sql
+++ b/db/structure.sql
@@ -16286,7 +16286,8 @@ CREATE TABLE merge_request_reviewers (
     merge_request_id bigint NOT NULL,
     created_at timestamp with time zone NOT NULL,
     state smallint DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
-    project_id bigint
+    project_id bigint,
+    CONSTRAINT check_fb72c99774 CHECK ((project_id IS NOT NULL))
 );
 
 CREATE SEQUENCE merge_request_reviewers_id_seq
@@ -27415,9 +27416,6 @@ ALTER TABLE web_hook_logs
 ALTER TABLE projects
     ADD CONSTRAINT check_fa75869cb1 CHECK ((project_namespace_id IS NOT NULL)) NOT VALID;
 
-ALTER TABLE merge_request_reviewers
-    ADD CONSTRAINT check_fb72c99774 CHECK ((project_id IS NOT NULL)) NOT VALID;
-
 ALTER TABLE ONLY ci_build_needs
     ADD CONSTRAINT ci_build_needs_pkey PRIMARY KEY (id);