Former New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty had a strong reaction to the team not retaining wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, during a recent appearance on The Greg Hill Show.
Meyers ended up going to Las Vegas to play with Josh McDaniels and the Raiders. He signed a three-year, $33 million contract, which initially looked similar to the contract New England gave to wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
McCourty was surprised by New England not keeping the wide receiver, who had been a key piece of the organization.
Meyers recorded 67 catches for 804 yards and six touchdowns last season. The undrafted free agent from North Carolina State made an impact throughout his time in New England.
McCourty shared his surprise on how things played out, as transcribed by CBS Boston.
“I will say, what I was surprised [about], was Jakobi. I thought what Jakobi signed for, for the Raiders was like … eh,” said McCourty. “Like he was our most productive receiver the last two years, and this year he missed I think two or three games and still was head and shoulders our most productive guy in an offensive system that loves having a guy that can work short routes inside, intermediate routes vertically on third down as the guy usually on third down. So when I saw what he signed for, I was kinda like damn. Like, I thought that would’ve been a kind of easy contract to bring him back here, and he’s a guy that from talking to him, I think he wanted to be back here.”
The Patriots started to bolster the wide receiver room by signing Smith-Schuster.
They will also have an opportunity to add weapons via the draft, as a deep wide receiver class will allow for the team to continue to reshape the position. However, many were shocked by New England not re-signing Meyers, and it’s obvious now you can add McCourty to that group.