Receiver Jakobi Meyers wasn’t young enough or good enough for the Las Vegas Raiders to keep him around, but Meyers sure has been a hit for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags announced that they’ve agreed to a three-year, $60 million extension with Meyers, with $40 million guaranteed, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN via Michael DiRocco.
Meyers was a controversial figure in Las Vegas this year. He figured out what a disaster the Raiders were going to be shortly after he asked for an extension and the team turned him down, so Meyers quickly pivoted and demanded a trade.
He’s been everything Jacksonville wanted and then some. Meyers’ biggest asset is his sticky fingers, and the Jags were having all kinds of issues with drops when they traded a fourth-round and sixth-round pick to the Raiders for the possession receiver.
But Meyers has done far more than just catch the ball reliably in Jacksonville. According to DiRocco, the Jaguars have averaged 31.8 points per game since the possession receiver arrived, which is second only to the Los Angeles Rams at 34.0, and quarterback Trevor Lawrence has thrown 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions during that five-game stretch.
The irony of all this for Jacksonville is that the trade for Meyers was a desperation move on their part due to injuries. The Jags had lost part-time receiver Travis Hunter for the season, and receiver Brian Thomas Jr. was dealing with shoulder and ankle injuries. Yet another receiver, Dyami Brown, was out with a shoulder issue.
But Jacksonville was also having big issues with drops, and Meyers seems to have solved that problem by giving Lawrence a reliable target. They were leading the league with 19 at the time, which is eight more than Meyers has had over the course of his entire seven-year career.
It’s easy to make fun of reliable possession receivers like Meyers, but they make a big difference. Meyers has caught 27 passes for 355 yards in six games for Jacksonville, and he’s basically doing the same thing he did in Las Vegas.
The Raiders traded Meyers because he was 29, so the logic in not extending him was that he was too old to be a factor when Vegas is good again in what’s now almost certain to be a full rebuild. Whether that will occur in the next decade is anyone’s guess at this point, but the idea that receiver Tyler Lockett could replace Meyers and allow young receiver like Jack Bech and Dont’e Thornton Jr. to emerge simply hasn’t happened.