Jakobi Meyers clearly is the best and most productive receiver on the New England Patriots roster. But where does he stand among some of the NFL's other top wideouts?
In New England's first nine games, Meyers built a compelling case not just for being an underrated receiver, but also for being one of the league's better pass catchers -- full stop.
The traditional stats back up that claim, as Meyers' 40 receptions are impressive considering he's missed two games due to an injury and already enjoyed a bye week. For comparison, Seattle Seahawks wideout Tyler Lockett ranks ninth in the NFL with 54 catches but has played ten games. Considering Meyers averages about six catches per game, it probably is fair to say he'd be near or inside the top 10 in catches had he not dealt with injury issues during the first half.
But advanced analytics also paint a favorable picture of the Patriots receiver. That much was true early in the season, and remains so with eight games left on New England's schedule.
ESPN's Seth Walder on Tuesday shared a graph that plots receivers by yards per route run and their respective receiver tracking metrics score -- which is ESPN's fancy-schmancy way of grading wideouts. And Meyers earned an impressive spot on the graphic.
Take a look:
As you can see, Meyers is in the same company as the following star receivers:
-- Chris Olave
-- Brandon Aiyuk
-- CeeDee Lamb
-- Devante Adams
-- DeAndre Hopkins
-- Tyler Lockett
-- Amari Cooper
-- Terry McLaurin
-- Amon-Ra St. Brown
The players clearly distanced from Meyers on the graph are some of the NFL's truly elite wideouts, with Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill currently lapping the field. Stefon Diggs, A.J. Brown and Justin Jefferson also have established themselves as a different class of receivers.
Nevertheless, the graph illustrated just how good Meyers has been relative to his peers.
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Of course, the bad news is that Meyers might be pricing himself out of New England.
The fourth-year pro is scheduled to become a free agent this offseason, and it's fair to wonder whether the Patriots will be willing to pay the price required to keep Meyers in town. That said, it's easy to see Meyers' value to Mac Jones and the offense forcing New England to re-sign him.
Meyers will look to continue his impressive campaign this Sunday when the Patriots host the New York Jets, who have one of the best secondaries in football.
