Acquired mid-season, Jakobi Meyers ignited the Jaguars' offense. His impact on Trevor Lawrence's play is undeniable, even catching the attention of opposing coaches.
For a hot second, the Jacksonville Jaguars looked mediocre.
After starting the Liam Coen era with four wins in five games, Jacksonville lost its next two, and then got a one-point overtime win over the Raiders, who turned out to be the worst team in the NFL.
True, 5-3 wasn't a terrible place to be for a team that went 4-13 the year before, but the Jags felt they could do better. So they acquired a player from that Raiders squad -- or, maybe more fittingly, they saved him from it.
The Jags acquired receiver Jakobi Meyers at the trade deadline for a fourth-round and sixth-round pick in the upcoming draft.
In Meyers' first game with the team, Jacksonville lost, but it was hardly his fault.
The Jags had a 19-point fourth-quarter lead against the Texans in Houston and ended up losing the game, falling to 5-4.
It was the type of loss that could ruin a season.
Instead, Jacksonville won its last eight games, took the AFC South, and gets to host a playoff game as the No. 3 seed.
Other factors besides Meyers led to this hot streak, but it's not a coincidence that the Jags are winning with him.
Meyers has caught at least three passes in all nine of his games, totaling 37 receptions for 439 yards and three touchdowns.
And Trevor Lawrence?
Well, before Meyers got to Jacksonville, Lawrence had thrown nine touchdowns and six interceptions.
Since then, he's thrown six interceptions, but also 20 touchdowns, and three of those picks were in the same game.
The biggest change is Lawrence's increased completion percentage in the middle of the field.
Before Meyers, Lawrence had completed 60 percent of his passes over the middle, according to Action News Jax reporting.
Since then, he's completed 72 percent.
The difference Meyers has made has caught the eye of the coach who will be going against him Sunday.
"I thought one of the moves that's made a difference for them offensively is adding Jakobi Meyers," Bills head coach Sean McDermott told reporters on Monday. "A good pickup for them. Probably a guy that's, quite honestly, been undervalued in his career, but going against him in New England, a ton of respect for his game."
A big indicator of the Jags' faith in Meyers is that they extended him in December, before he had finished half of a season in Jacksonville.
"I think just the obvious connection between he and Trevor early on," head coach Liam Coen said on Dec. 19, after the team had re-signed Meyer. "You could feel that there was chemistry there, and a guy that's prepared like a true pro since he's got here, and anytime you can get guys like that where you have a continued chemistry and you feel like it gets better each week. Really happy for the guy."
Bills-Jaguars is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (CBS).
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