Jakobi Meyers Wanted To Stay With Patriots Before Joining Raiders

Jakobi Meyers went through quite a difficult journey to become a consistent and reliable contributor for the New England Patriots.

In fact, the journey meant so much that the 26-year-old was intent on remaining a member of the Patriots organization when he hit free agency this offseason. Unfortunately, that’s not the way of the NFL, leading to his union with the Las Vegas Raiders.

“The business side of things took over. You know how it goes,” Meyers explained on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Wednesday. “I mean, of course, I definitely wanted to stay (in New England). I’ve got a lot of family on that team. It would have been a cool opportunity, but I can’t even sit here and act like I’m not excited to be a Raider now.”

Meyers’ decision to join Las Vegas came as a result of a three-year, $33 million deal that has some pretty fortunate language in it for the Raiders. The contract was surprising to many, especially after the Patriots went out and spent very similar money on JuJu Smith-Schuster just days later.

Meyers, much like some of his former teammates, wasn’t a fan of the Patriots’ decision to move on in favor of the unproven commodity. The former undrafted free agent let that much known through a tweet that he would later call childish, but has come around to view his tenure with the Patriots positively.

“I learned some things, trust me,” Meyers said. “I learned how to mind my business. I learned how to handle the things I can control. I learned how to come in every day and be a respectful guy, and ultimately just take care of the main things first.

“… My job there was to be the same guy every day. I feel like I got to a point where they relied on me to be that same person, to make plays, to be a third-down guy, to help the locker room and help younger guys. I was just trying to do that.”

The Raiders will now look toward Meyers to provide that same consistency in Las Vegas, with head coach Josh McDaniels already working on big plans to incorporate his new slot receiver.