The New England Patriots have had a fairly confusing start to free agency. Despite being armed with ample cap space, they haven't made many big moves in free agency, with most of their work involving retaining their own players and signing lower-level free agents. The biggest move they have made so far came on Wednesday afternoon when they signed JuJu Smith-Schuster to a three-year, $33 million deal.

On paper, this is a good move for the Patriots. They desperately needed to bring in some more pass-catching talent on offense for third-year quarterback Mac Jones, and Smith-Schuster is coming off a strong bounce-back campaign with the Kansas City Chiefs. Considering the explosion the wide receiver market has seen in terms of money over the past few years, this is a reasonable contract for Smith-Schuster.

However, off the field, this deal creates several issues that may end up coming back to haunt New England. It's not that JuJu Smith-Schuster is a bad person, but the manner in which the Patriots handled this situation, as well as the situation with their own free agent wideout Jakobi Meyers, has left a bad taste in the mouths of many. In a sense, one signing could prevent many others from being made.

The Patriots did Jakobi Meyers dirty by signing JuJu Smith-Schuster

New England's top pending free agent this offseason was Meyers, who had ascended to the top of the Pats wide receiver depth chart after being an undrafted free agent who had barely played wide receiver before entering the NFL. Meyers was Jones' favorite target on offense, and while it was expected he would get a decent pay raise in free agency, it seemed like one New England should at least consider giving him.

When Meyers signed with the Las Vegas Raiders for three years, $33 million, Pats fans were left relatively disappointed. Meyers isn't the flashiest player in the world, but he's consistent, had developed a good relationship with Jones, and was well respected in the locker room. That's something the Pats should have been willing to pay for, but they let him leave for Vegas without putting up much of a fight.

As you have probably deduced by now, Jakobi Meyers and JuJu Smith-Schuster got identical contracts in the free agent market. The money is spread out differently, but the message couldn't be clearer; the Patriots didn't view Meyers as a top-tier receiver, and they gave the money that he was looking for (which was certainly not unreasonable) to a player they view as a true top wideout.

If this isn't a slap in the face to Meyers, I don't know what it is. Meyers seemingly responded to the Smith-Schuster signing by saying it's a “cold world” on Twitter, and this is indeed a brutal move from the Pats. Meyers' response to this move indicates what we all knew in that New England didn't make a hard push to re-sign their own wideout, which isn't a good look at all. And you can bet the rest of the league will take notice.

NFL players are people too, and there are players across the league who took note of the stunt the Patriots just pulled here. Meyers worked his tail off for the Pats to become the player that he is, only to get completely disrespected in free agency. Not only did they not pursue him, they gave his money to a player who may not even be as good as Meyers.

How you treat players is a crucial aspect of professional sports, not just football. There are free agents out there who will see this and say to themselves ‘Huh, if that's how they are treating Meyers, how are they going to treat me?' It's tough to feel totally bad for Meyers, because he got paid what he wanted anyways, but it's hard to believe he was totally opposed to returning to New England.

The Pats reputation has been teetering since the departure of Tom Brady, and this situation probably won't help them out very much. Smith-Schuster's ceiling is probably higher than Meyers', but the problem is that his floor is surely lower as well. It's a risk for New England to sign Smith-Schuster, but to do it in the way they have done it only makes things worse.

New England needs to hit a home run this offseason after a disappointing 2022 campaign, but their plan remains murky at best. They are supposed to be trying to support Jones' growth under center, but this move blatantly contradicts that goal, while also potentially damaging the franchise's reputation across the NFL.

Bill Belichick is one of the greatest NFL minds ever, but his moves so far this offseason offer no indication of an actual plan to improve this team. He's still going to have to make additions to the wide receiver room one way or another, but at this point, it is fair to wonder whether or not he believes Jones is the quarterback of the team's future.

There are so many questions surrounding the Patriots future right now, and when presented with the choice to answer some of those questions by re-signing Meyers, they opted to spit in his face and pick a less familiar and less reliable option over him. It may not seem like it now, but this could have huge repercussions on the Patriots future for the 2023 season and beyond.