Why Jacksonville’s New Wide Receiver Can Have a Major Impact
The Jacksonville Jaguars were sitting in quite a predicament at the trade deadline. Sitting at a 5-3 record, the team needed to be aggressive in order to turn this sinking ship around and make an opportunity for a playoff push. With a struggling sophomore receiver in Brian Thomas Jr., who has been recently sidelined with an ankle injury, and losing rookie Travis Hunter to the IR, the Jaguars needed to go out and get some weapons for Trevor Lawrence to survive the growing amount of injuries on the offensive side of the ball. General manager James Gladstone did just that, and it ended up being a recent opponent familiar to Jacksonville.
The Jaguars would end up trading with the Las Vegas Raiders for Jakobi Meyers. The Raiders ended up giving Meyers the choice of his own destination, with him choosing the Jaguars over the Steelers due to having a close relationship with Jacksonville’s wide receiver coach in Edgar Bennett. Meyers will debut for the Jaguars this Sunday against a lackluster Houston Texans team, and could make a fast impact. Meyers will add experience with his veteran presence in the locker room and will offer leadership to a young offensive core that has desperately needed a leader all season long.
For Jacksonville, Meyers can bring improvement to the team’s pass-catching, run-blocking, and route running. His versatility will be crucial to take some pressure off other guys in the offense, and could take eyes off the running game to allow players like Travis Etienne Jr. to flourish. Offensive coordinator Grant Udinski sees Meyers providing great value to this Jaguars team, with high hopes that he can explode in the Jaguars system. Meyers will see playtime immediately, with Thomas out this week and Hunter out for at least a few more weeks. He’ll join Parker Washington as the top weapons for Lawrence. After begging for a trade out of Las Vegas for what felt like forever, Jakobi Meyers finally got his wish delivered. Going from a losing Raiders franchise to a Jaguars team fighting for a playoff position, Meyers will have something to play for throughout the rest of the season, and could be the reason that the Jaguars sneak into the postseason.
