Jakobi Meyers Is No Longer a New England Patriot :(

I made that..3 years later and I'm still learning photoshop

I had a late start to my day, and one of the first things I saw once I was up for good was a text in my fantasy football group chat (where I am the reigning league champion) asking me how I felt about Jakobi Meyers signing with the Raiders.

In short, I'm not thrilled.

I thought Jakobi was likely gone when rumors of what he was looking for made their way to twitter dot com, but when I saw the Raiders signed him for a quite reasonable 3-year, 33 million dollar deal, I was like...why couldn't we do that?

Raiders to sign WR Jakobi Meyers to a 3-year deal worth $33M including $21M guaranteed. (via @RapSheet) pic.twitter.com/2C3FS9VdSx

— NFL (@NFL) March 14, 2023

Everybody under the sun is making the same lame jokes about how this is the least the Raiders could do after he (literally) threw them a win, but I won't do that. I'm better than that, and so are you as a dozonlife.com reader. 

Like Jimmy Garoppolo, there's an obvious connection for Jakobi with the Raiders since Josh McDaniels is their head coach. Please don't get it twisted, Jakobi Meyers is a nice piece, and I enjoyed what he brought to the Pats, but he is just a guy. The problem is that when you look at the Pats' current WR core, he's a guy they totally could've used. This man moves the chains!

As I typed this line (1:36 pm EST), the Patriots currently have three wide receivers on their roster. Kendrick Bourne, DeVante Parker, and Tyquan Thornton (plus, who knows what's in store for Marcus Jones). Now truth be told, I like what all three of those guys bring to the offense, but it sure would've been nice to keep one of the few pieces that worked well for the Pats O last year. Now I'm thinking aloud as I write, but maybe that's good. Last year was a disaster. Putrid is an excellent descriptor. Anemic plays as well. Maybe low-key cleaning house isn't the worst move. We already ditched Jonnu.

Some may say those the guys I listed are three #3 receivers, and I would argue that Kendrick Bourne is a 2.5. He was great in 2021, and showed flashes this year when actually targeted. His huge catch against the Dolphins when he only played like 6 snaps is the perfect microcosm of his season. I'm just a little surprised the Pats let Jakobi walk when he signed such a reasonable contract. Jakobi embodied what it meant to be a New England Patriot. He was an undrafted guy who worked to become a solid starter. He's versatile. For a looonng time he had 2 career passing TDs and 0 career TD receptions. He felt like a guy they'd keep at 1 Patriot Place.

Jakobi Meyers TD pass to Cam □

(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/Vktiig1lzA

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 3, 2021

I'm sure the Patriots will address their pass-catching depth through free agency and/or the draft, but given their track record with drafting WRs, it's hard to get excited about that prospect. Who's gonna be this year's N'Keal Harry, or Chad Jackson, or Taylor Price, or Aaron Dobson, etc.???

Despite his ill-advised throw, I fw'd Jakobi and am sad to see him go. I'm happy he got himself a solid bag. That's life-changing money if you're smart with it (word of advice: stay away from the Roulette wheel. Sure it's one of life's greatest thrills, but just stay away my guy. You got your bag). It's a bummer to see him leave, but that's the business, and at the end of the day, his skill-set is replaceable. It's not like losing Gronk in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, or for good after 2018. Jakobi Meyers isn't irreplaceable. We can have another you in a minute. Matter fact, he'll be here in a minute, baaaby.