Patriots
The former Patriots receiver says he’s happy in Las Vegas even though he recently requested a trade.
Jakobi Meyers wants a new contract. He’s in the final year of his deal, and negotiations with the Raiders haven’t gone the way he had hoped.
Last week, he requested a trade and told reporters that the team had denied it.
After Las Vegas’s 20-13 win against the Patriots in Foxborough on Sunday, Emma Healey of The Boston Globe reported that Meyers shut down questions about the situation.
“I’m happy to be a Raider,” he said. “Wherever the job takes me or whoever needs me to win, whoever wants me to be there, I’ll be there.”
Meyers hauled in eight catches for 97 yards on 10 targets in his Gillette Stadium return. He said the game felt like a homecoming. The Patriots signed Meyers as an underrated free agent in 2019. He left for Las Vegas after the 2023 season, inking a 3-year $33 million deal.
“It was great, honestly. My family was here,” Meyers said. “I know they got the chance to enjoy the game. My boys are here. It’s almost like bringning your friends home, almost. It was cool to bring them here and see where I started out, and we’re going to go back to Vegas and get ready for the next week.”
“I wouldn’t say added incentive,” Meyers said. “Once I’m on the field, you’re going to get what you get every single time, hopefully. But, outside of that, just being in a hotel, being around the city, that was cool, to just think about everything that I’ve been through getting to this point.”
There has been plenty of turnover on the Patriots’ roster and coaching staff since Meyers left two years ago. New England is on its third coach in three years after firing Bill Belichick and Jerod Mayo in back-to-back seasons. The Patriots overhauled the roster ahead of Mike Vrabel’s first season.
Meyers said it’s not a surprise to see such a lack of familiar faces.
“What I’m learning is that’s the NFL,” Meyers said. “It’s a young man’s league, so we all grow up at some point and move around. For the guys that are still here, I’m extremely proud of them. They played hard, played well in my opinion and it was just really good to see. I’m just so proud of them.”
The Raiders have undergone their share of changes as well, bringing head coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Geno Smith during the offseason. After a tumultuous 2024 season that included 10 straight losses at one point, these Raiders have started off 2025 on a better note.
“That was the most important things to us,” Meyers said. “We needed this win. We played hard, practiced hard. We just wanted the opportunity to go against someone else and show what we’ve been working on all this time.”
Sign up for Patriots updates🏈
Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during football season.
