Should Giants Make Free-agency Push for this Young Receiver?

WR Jakobi Meyers

Current Team: New England Patriots
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 200 lbs.
NFL Exp.: 4 seasons (all with Patriots)
School: NC State (2015-2018)
Giants Current Cap Space: $43,151,832

Why He’d Be A Fit

Despite playing in a historically poor offensive system last season that had Joe Judge and Matt Patricia share play-calling duties, Patriots receiver Jakobi Meyers established himself as one of the league’s most productive slot receivers.

In the 2022 season, the 26-year-old receiver hauled in 67 catches for 804 yards and a career-high six touchdowns, averaging 12 yards per catch.

However, what makes Meyers an intriguing option for the Giants is his sure hands. In 2022, Meyers dropped just one pass (1.5 percent). The Giants’ offense has suffered greatly from dropped passes, which was, unfortunately, a persistent problem throughout the season and constantly derailed promising drives. Seven of the Giants' eight receivers finished with higher drop percentages last season, with four of those seven having double-digit drop percentages.

Another important feature of Meyers’ play is his ability to make catches in tight coverage. In 23 contested catch opportunities, he emerged with the catch in 13 of them, tied with the likes of Tyreek Hill for the 16th most among wide receivers. Meanwhile, his 56.5% contested catch rate is the 7th best among receivers with at least 20 contested catch opportunities.

When Meyers was targeted in the passing game, he had a 119.6 passer rating, which would have been better than any Giants receiver not named Isaiah Hodgins.

Drawbacks

Although Meyers is an under-the-radar player in terms of production, the extremely weak wide receiver market in free agency has significantly inflated his value, as he’s considered one of the best options available. Spotrac projects he'll earn a 4-year, $64 million deal, with $40 million guaranteed and a $16 million AAV. However, a more realistic projection for the undrafted free agent might be somewhere in the $12-$15 million per year range.

The Giants need sneaky-good players, especially at receiver. Still, it remains to be seen if they'll be in a position to afford anything close to that kind of deal in a position market where the demand is likely to exceed the supply.

There is also a question of whether Meyers will even hit the market. ESPN's Dan Graziano recently reported that the Patriots and Meyers haven't made much progress toward a new deal, but the fact that the two sides are talking would seem to suggest that New England wants the receiver back.

Final Thoughts

With Meyers being arguably the best wide receiver available in a thin free-agent class, it might make more financial sense for the Giants to look for a receiver in the NFL Draft or consider a trade.

Meyers does have a good skill set that would make him attractive to the Giants. Still, on a team with so many needs and that's likely to lose $32.4 million of its cap space if it has to use the franchise tag on quarterback Daniel Jones, Meyers might not be worth the investment, regardless of how good he might be.

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