After missing the playoffs last year, the Patriots decided to make some changes ahead of the 2023 NFL season. Not only did Bill Belichick retooled the coaching staff, but he also opted not to keep Jakobi Meyers.
The wide receiver hit the open market this offseason, eventually signing for the Las Vegas Raiders as a free agent to help Jimmy Garoppolo. Meanwhile, New England landed former Chiefs wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster.
While he comes from a successful season in Kansas City, many believe the 3-year, $33 million deal he received was too much. Additionally, there are also those who think it was better to keep Meyers. Former Patriots safety Devin McCourty, for instance, is one of them.
Patriots legend Devin McCourty preferredJakobi Meyers over JuJu Smith-Schuster
“I’m not going to lie, I would have liked to see Jakobi back over JuJu,”McCourty said on the Green Light with Chris Longpodcast, via PatriotsWire. “Just my personal feeling. I just think Jakobi is a guy, he’s an undrafted free agent who panned out because of hard work.
“…To me, when you have guys like that, when you look at Jakobi, you can guess that his better years are still in front of him. I just think having that in the locker room for young guys, and I think especially in that [receiver] room over the years—you lose [Julian] Edelman, we haven’t replaced that room with a guy who is New England culture. You just don’t have it.”
Meyers is certainly an example of hard work paying off. Having joined the Patriots as an undrafted rookie in 2019, he eventually made his way to the roster as WR1. However, after a season with no playoffs, it’s understandable the team is taking other things into account.