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Here’s what fantasy football experts think about drafting Patriots’ Jakobi Meyers
"Jakobi Meyers is easily the most slept on wide receiver in fantasy football."
For anyone currently immersed in fantasy football draft preparation, trying to gauge Jakobi Meyers’s fantasy football relevance in the Patriots’ offense can be a difficult task.
Bill Belichick even acknowledged earlier in training camp that “fantasy football doesn’t mean anything to me.”
But when it comes to Patriots wide receivers, it does appear that Meyers could have potential fantasy value this season.
Jakobi Meyers, who originally signed with the Patriots in 2019 as an undrafted free agent, has consistently outperformed everyone else on the team’s depth chart.
Despite New England’s efforts to bolster its receiving group over the past two seasons — including free agent additions Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne in 2021 or trading for DeVante Parker this past offseason while selecting Tyquan Thornton in the second round of the 2022 draft — Meyers continues to look like the closest thing the Patriots have to a No. 1 option.
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“The undrafted fourth-year pro led all Patriots in targets and receptions from Jones this summer and finished camp with a flourish, catching five of his six targets Wednesday and hauling in two highlight-reel touchdowns,” wrote NESN Patriots reporter Zack Cox.
Currently, Meyers is being drafted on average between the 128th and 188th pick (making him somewhere between the 49th and 64th wide receiver selected).
This could mean that Meyers is a potential value candidate, as has been noted by experts.
“Jakobi Meyers is easily the most slept on wide receiver in fantasy football,” noted Andrew Erickson of FantasyPros. “[Meyers] has been the Patriots target leader for the past two seasons, with his most recent accomplishment finishing top-12 in target share (23%) in 2021.”
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Still, there is one glaring category in which Meyers needs to improve if he will reach his full potential in fantasy football: Touchdowns.
“New England’s No. 1 receiver just needs to cash-in on more touchdowns to unlock his fantasy ceiling,” Erickson explained. “He has been extremely underused in that category; his 866 receiving yards resulting in two touchdowns were the lowest of any WR in 2021.”
Of course, two touchdowns in 2021 was an improvement for Meyers, who conspicuously hadn’t caught a touchdown in his career during the two years prior to that. There are some who think this season could produce more scoring from Meyers.
“Meyers and Mac Jones have a solid rapport and if there was ever a case to claim positive [touchdown] regression, this has to be it!” predicted Renee Miller of The Athletic.
And ultimately, Meyers’ best advocate is probably his quarterback.
“He’s just a tough, smart football player,” said Jones earlier this week. “I’ll take him on my team forever, hopefully.”
“I trust him,” Jones added. “We see the game the same way, sometimes without even talking about it.”
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