The New England Patriots and Jakobi Meyers have both moved on from each other, at least professionally speaking, but there might be some bitter feelings.
A day after Meyers agreed to a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, the Patriots replaced him by signing JuJu Smith-Schuster. Not only does Smith-Schuster have a similar game to Meyers as a slot guy, the Patriots also gave him a contract eerily similar to Meyers.
Smith-Schuster will receive a three-year, $33 million deal with $22.5 million “earned” over his first two seasons, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported. Meyers got a three-year, $33 million deal with $21 million guaranteed from the Raiders, per multiple reports. But as more details trickled out about Meyers' contract, it was revealed that Las Vegas could easily get out of his deal following the 2023 season.
The Raiders could actually get out of Meyers' contract pretty easily after the 2023 season.
$5.5M signing bonus and $5M salary in 2023 are fully guaranteed.
Beyond that, Las Vegas could forego 2024/2025 salaries and $5.5M roster bonus by third day of 2024 league year. https://t.co/2OFSwnRoPu
— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) March 14, 2023
Meyers noticed the deal Smith-Schuster got from the Patriots and made a cryptic comment as he appeared to also note Smith-Schuster received a similar contract as he did.
“Cold world lol,” Meyers wrote in a tweet replying to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport's report of Smith-Schuster's contract.
Cold world lol https://t.co/YtYqjrymUw
— Jakobi Meyers (@jkbmyrs5) March 15, 2023
A few minutes later, Meyers might have quickly quelled any possible idea that he holds beef with the Patriots. He thanked Bill Belichick and the organization in a statement on Instagram.
“Pats Nation: These last 4 years in New England have been the best of my life. I can't thank Coach Belichick and the entire staff enough for taking a chance on an undrafted free agent and developing me into the player and person I am today.
“Thank you to all the fans who supported me on this journey. I strive to be an inspiration to all the young kids watching every Sunday. It was nothing but love from day 1 and I will always be thankful for that.
“Thank you to all of my teammates who pushed me to be better each and every day. I couldn't have done it without you boys and we built bonds that will last a lifetime.
“With all that being said, I couldn't be more excited for my next chapter.
“All love!”
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Meyers was the Patriots' top receiver over the last few seasons, recording 83 receptions in 2021 and 67 receptions in 2022. Smith-Schuster had 78 receptions with the Kansas City Chiefs last season.
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