Nothing has gone right for the New England Patriots early on this season, and while their play on the field certainly showcases that, this can be traced back to free agency this past offseason when the team opted to replace Jakobi Meyers with JuJu Smith-Schuster. This was a confusing decision at the time, but a recent Bill Belichick revelation has made it look like an even worse decision.
Meyers, who had been the Patriots best wide receiver over the past three seasons, was expected to be a top target for New England to retain in free agency. Instead, the Pats were largely uninterested in bringing Meyers back, and instead turned to Smith-Schuster. And despite handing Smith-Schuster practically the same deal as the one the Las Vegas Raiders gave to Meyers, Belichick was reportedly never sold on Smith-Schuster being the guy New England needs him to be.
“In the lead-up to free agency, the Pats had been split internally on whether to retain Meyers, their leading receiver for three straight seasons. Sources believe front-office decision-makers sold Belichick on Smith-Schuster’s yards after catch ability over what they had in Meyers. That, again, served as a surprise to outsiders, considering the Patriots weren’t connected to Smith-Schuster in 2022 when he had also been a free agent. ‘Bill was never a JuJu guy,' one source said.” – Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald
Sure enough, Smith-Schuster has struggled for New England through five games, while Meyers has been the perfect complement to Davante Adams in the Raiders wide receiver corps. It's been gut punch after gut punch for the Patriots over the past few weeks, and this is another bad look for Bill Belichick in a season that has been full of them.
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