Jakobi Meyers makes PFF's list of top 10 free agents in the coming offseason
BOSTON -- Jakobi Meyers entered the NFL as a relative unknown. Yet through a year with Tom Brady, a year with Cam Newton, and a year-plus with Mac Jones (plus a dash of Bailey Zappe), the fourth-year wideout has certainly made a name for himself.
As a result, he's in like to make NFL money -- real NFL money in the coming offseason.
While it may be a bit early for such discussions, Pro Football Focus' Brad Spielberger created a list of the top 10 players who are going to be free agents at the end of the year. Meyers is on that list at No. 9.
"Meyers was an undrafted free agent find of the Patriots in 2019 who has blossomed into a very good player, returning to New England in 2022 on a restricted free agent tender and comfortably outperforming all the other major investments the team made at the position over the past two offseasons," Spielberger wrote. "New England may certainly try to keep Meyers around, likely letting Nelson Agholor reach free agency at the least, but they've also made it a habit of letting players walk after their rookie contract value is gone, notably with another former undrafted free agent in cornerback J.C. Jackson last offseason."
Spielberger listed Meyers' "sharp route running and great hands" as his best assets, nothing that his 69 percent contested catch rate is the best such mark in that category over the past three seasons.
In seven games this season, Meyers has caught 40 passes for 457 yards and three touchdowns. Of his 40 receptions, 22 have resulted in first downs. Last year, he picked up 45 first downs for the Patriots, after moving the chains 37 times in 2020.
Meyers is currently playing on his restricted free-agent tender, which pays him a tick under $4 million this year. With the wide receiver market being rather lucrative in recent years, the 26-year-old is in position to make some serious cash this coming spring.
(As a sidenote, quarterback Tom Brady is listed at No. 3 on the list, for anyone who wants to start concocting any return-to-New England scenarios for the GOAT.)
