The Las Vegas Raiders have been busy early in NFL free agency reshaping their offense. Their first acquisition was landing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to replace their long-time starter, Derek Carr. While reactions to that move weren’t overly positive, it filled a major void in their lineup.
With their quarterback in place, Las Vegas got to move on upgrading the weapons around him. The first big wide receiver domino has fallen and it was the Raiders who pounced. They have agreed to a three-year, $33 million deal with Jakobi Meyers that includes $21 million guaranteed.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network broke the news. Just like Garoppolo, Meyers has ties to the New England Patriots, as he spent the first four seasons of his professional career with the franchise. General manager Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels want players that they are familiar with and fit in the culture they are attempting to create and Meyers will certainly accomplish that.
There were reports earlier this offseason that the Raiders would look to trade wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and tight end Darren Waller. This move involving Meyers will certainly make that easier to do.
Las Vegas will likely push even harder now to trade at least Renfrow. He had an injury-riddled 2023 but did catch 103 passes for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns in 2022, earning a contract extension.
Meyers and Renfrow have overlapping skill sets as primarily slot receivers and trading Renfrow would save the team $5,782,000. If it is a post-June 1st trade, they would save $11,290,000.
Meyers does haves experience playing on the perimeter, but if the Raiders need to open up a little bit more money, moving Renfrow is the logical decision. This is a big addition to the offense in Sin City as Meyers has good hands with only a 3.1 percent drop rate and has a top-five contested catch rate over the last three seasons as well.
