There are any number of moves that could be pointed to as the least popular of decisions made by coach and personnel guru Bill Belichick when his Patriots tenure was in its death throes. But somewhere near the top of the pile would be letting receiver Jakobi Meyers walk in 2023.
Meyers landed in Las Vegas with a three-year, $33 million contract, one he apparently could not get from New England. Instead, Belichick gave the same three-year, $33 million contract to the one-legged JuJu Smith-Schuster. Meyers later said he was about $1 million apart on a deal with the Patriots, but Belichick would not budge,
Meyers, obviously annoyed by his treatment from the Patriots, commented on social media: “Cold world.” Meyers got the last laugh, though, as he put up a 1,000-yard season for a Raiders team that struggled last season, while Smith-Schuster was a disaster in New England.
Jakobi Meyers Wants a Trade
Is it possible now that the Patriots could turn things around on the Meyers decision? It turns out that Meyers is not happy in his current situation and has, according to a report from NFL Media, requested a trade. The Raiders have not taken on offers for Meyers, but that might change.
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network wrote on Twitter/X: “#Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers recently met with team brass and requested to be traded, per me and @TomPelissero. The team, citing his value, said they had no plans to do so. Meyers and the team attempted to negotiate a new contract, but could not come to terms.”
Meyers maintains a good relationship with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who was his Raiders coach for one season.
Patriots Could Make a Deal Work
The Patriots could easily absorb Meyers into their cap space in a trade and could offer the Raiders a receiver to replace him (some combination of Kendrick Bourne, Kayson Boutte, Kyle Williams) and a draft pick to sweeten the pot.
New England has a fascinating wide receiver room heading into the final hours before mandatory 53-man roster cuts, with eight players worthy of spots for differing reasons, and with no one standing out as definitely being star material.
Perhaps adding Meyers to go with Stefon Diggs would beef up the receiving crew enough to make the Patriots less concerned about depth and more willing to shed players.
Patriots Observers Want Meyers Back
As soon as Rapoport and Pelissero made their report, there was speculation that the Patriots would be the landing spot for Meyers.
Mark Daniels of MassLive wrote on Twitter/X, “Meyers never should’ve left New England in the first place.”
Zack Cox of the Herald wrote, “The only Patriots wideouts in the post-Brady era with more than 800 yards in a season are Jakobi Meyers in 2021 and Jakobi Meyers in 2022. And he’s coming off an 87-1,027-4 for Vegas last year. I’d make that call.”
And the Savage Sports site in Boston wrote, “Jakobi Meyers last season had 87 catches for 1027 yards. That was with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell throwing him the football. Don’t tell me the Patriots couldn’t use a guy like him.
It would require the Raiders to budge. But a Patriots push for a Meyers deals does make some sense.
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