Brandon Beane Reveals How Jaguars Beat Bills to Jakobi Meyers

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- If there was one moment where things truly flipped for the Jacksonville Jaguars last season, it was at the trade deadline.

The Jaguars were 5-3 and fresh off a narrow overtime win over the hapless Las Vegas Raiders. They were also fresh off losing No. 2 pick and wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter to a non-contact knee injury the week earlier.

Needing a boost at wide receiver, the Jaguars traded two 2026 Day 3 picks to the Las Vegas Raiders for veteran wide receiver Jakobi Meyers. Meyers went on to change the entire complexion of the offense, earning a contract extension in the process.

Now months removed from the Jaguars' fateful trade, an opposing general manager has made it clear why his team was outbid by the Jaguars for Meyers' services.

Brandon Beane Tells All

Speaking on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Buffalo Bills general manager discussed Meyers and the optics of the Bills' pursuit for him at the deadline. The Bills were clearly in need of a wide receiver, and former Bills head coach Sean McDermott seemed to purposely fixate on the Meyers' trade by the Jaguars when speaking to reporters ahead of the Jaguars-Bills playoff game.

Now, Beane has given his side as to why the Jaguars, and not the Bills, landed Meyers and changed their offense as a result.

Jakobi Meyers, Rashid Shaheed, a mystery AFC East WR??#Bills GM Brandon Beane takes @AdamSchein inside the Bills trade deadline negotiations including one deal he "know[s] we had the strongest offer on." 👀⬇ pic.twitter.com/ZlQmUt5LHJ
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) February 2, 2026

"I mean, Myers, he had a higher cap number than we had availability to do. And in speaking with those guys, they weren't really interested in eating cap space, which, you know, they traded him in Jacksonville," Beane said.

"So when you, you know, when you're trading for a player, we ran into that with Devonte Adams going to the Jets we, you know, we checked on him. We ultimately made the trade for Amari Cooper a year ago. It's got to work within our financials, and unless a team is willing to to eat money, Cleveland had already converted Cooper down and so, you know, you're able to do that if a club's not willing to do that, that can kind of limit, you know, the possibility of making that happen at the deadline."

jakobi meyer — Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jakobi Meyers (3) rushes for yards during the fourth quarter of an NFL football matchup at EverBank Stadium, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jaguars defeated the Titans 41-7, capturing the AFC South title. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Meyers proved to be a true difference-maker for the Jaguars, and it is clear they were on the better end of the deal. And due to their cap situation, the Jaguars were able to be more agressive in their pursuit of Meyers than Beane and the Bills were ever prepared to be.

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