Patriots' Jakobi Meyers Doesn't Feel He's Proven Anything Yet: 'That Was Just A Taste, An Appetizer'
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Jakobi Meyers has had an interesting first two seasons in the NFL. To say the least.
He joined the reining Super Bowl champs in 2019 as an undrafted free agent. Normally, joining the world champions -- fresh off their sixth title of the 21st century -- would be a great thing. But the 2019 Patriots were not great, as Tom Brady played out his final year in Foxboro during an underwhelming season.
Then came 2020, with COVID, and without OTAs, minicamp, or preseason games to get acclimated with new quarterback Cam Newton.
And for the first give games of the season, Meyers was barely a part of the team. He caught just one pass for seven yards in Week 2 in Seattle, his only activity in the offense in that five-game stretch. He was inactive in Week 4 in Kansas City, and he got zero snaps in Week 5 vs. Denver.
But then, Meyers became a big part of the Patriots' passing offense. The biggest part, in fact. Over the final 11 games, he caught 58 passes for 722 yards. That comes out to a 1,050-yard pace over 16 games.
With that, the third-year receiver is firmly established with his role on the team. Or so one might assume.
Meyers, speaking to the media on Tuesday night, showed that he's still carrying that undrafted free agent mentality into the 2021 season.
"I feel like I showed enough to keep me around for a third year, you know. But I don't feel like I proved anything yet, honestly," Meyers said. "I feel I still got a long way to go. That was more just like a taste, an appetizer, honestly. I didn't really do enough to say, 'Yeah, I'm solidified. I don't need to play in the preseason.' Or, 'I'm solidified, I don't need to be going as hard as the other guys are going.' I'm still trying to show everybody how hard I work, how good I can be, and hopefully I feel like I still got a lot of room to grow."
Meyers said that such an outlook has always been his approach, but going undrafted in 2019 has certainly added a little extra fuel to that fire.
"It definitely would've been [the mentality] regardless, but being undrafted definitely made a bigger chip," Meyers said.
Among the more notable changes on the coaching staff involved Patriots legend Troy Brown shifting over from working with the running backs to working with the wide receivers, the spot where he established the precedent of what it means to be a slot receiver in New England. That lineage went on to spawn Wes Welker and Julian Edelman. And though Brown said that Meyers learned an incredible amount from watching Edelman, Meyers said the credit still goes to Brown himself.
"I think Troy might've sold himself short there. You know, we all got it from Troy Brown, honestly," Meyers said. "He's the originator of the little inside route game. The Patriots inside route game, a lot of that is credited to Troy. Yeah, I do watch Jules, but Jules probably watched Troy. Or he watched Wes. It's been a long line of slot guys. And, I mean, honestly, if you want the answers, all you gotta do is just look before you. They give you -- it's Hall of Famers before me. So just pay attention to them guys, and they give me everything I need."
They all are, obviously, different receivers with different skill-sets. But the role remains similar. Meyers said he personally relies on the quickness that he developed when he played baseball as a shortstop, and he still relies on rice bucket workouts and squeezing clamps to build hand strength. That type of mitt muscle shows up on plays when Meyers snatches balls out of the air:
Meyers also had the unique circumstances of his own young career, having had to come in and earn a roster spot on a team that had Edelman and drafted N'Keal Harry in the first round. While that pressure cooker of a welcome to the NFL was certainly a test, Meyers said he's better for having gone through it.
"Honestly, it really was [a help]. I had to learn fast," Meyers said. "And I didn't really have an excuse, because that was a guy who had been playing for two decades, you know what I mean? I didn't get the liberty of just coming in and, 'Oh, he'll catch on one day.' I came in with a first-round receiver, N'Keal. Tom Brady, future Hall of Famer. I just had to pick it up real fast or I wouldn't be here long. It definitely pushed the tempo. I mean, I'm happy it worked out the way it did."
In that rookie year, just like his second season, Meyers was mostly a bystander for the first chunk of the schedule. He caught four passes on six targets for 66 yards in the first five games, and he was inactive in Week 2. Then he caught four passes for 54 yards on a Thursday night game against the Giants, working to establish some trust with Brady. He faded out of the offense late in the year, though, catching four passes for 60 yards over the final four weeks of the season, and he didn't even step on the field for the team's playoff loss to Tennessee.
The goal, then, is obvious for 2021. Meyers will be looking to be a steady contributor, from Week 1 through Week 18 -- and beyond, if it's that type of season for the Patriots. He's proven he can do it in large bursts, but living up to the standard established by Brown, Welker and Edelman means doing it consistently, every single week.
