It didn’t take long for Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Jakobi Meyers to make a lasting impression on the team’s coaching staff, players and front office.
Meyers’ value grew immediately when he stepped onto the field as the team’s primary target.
In six games since being traded to the Jaguars from the Las Vegas Raiders, Meyers has caught 27 passes for 355 yards and three touchdowns. In all, including seven games played for the Raiders, Meyers has caught 60 passes for 707 yards and three scores this year.
Meyers’ instant connection with quarterback Trevor Lawrence was obvious to the team’s coaching staff and head coach Liam Coen.
Coen said that anytime a team can acquire a player who prepares the right way, like a true professional, and can establish a strong connection with a team’s quarterback in addition to his skills as a receiver, you should do it.
And Coen knew it before Meyers stepped foot on the field for a game.
“The first week was pretty impressive with how he operated in the walkthrough settings and in practice,” said Coen.
Though the Jaguars didn’t win their Week 10 matchup against Houston, Meyers was part of the team’s adversity and Coen said he made plays in the game where “you could kind of tell that it was going to be a good fit and it’s continued to be,” he added.
Meyers is well-liked in the locker room, known as a wideout who goes about his business the right way and, on the field, has some of the best hands in the league.
Jaguars running back Travis Etienne made a joke after his three-touchdown receiving performance against the New York Jets last week, while also noting that Meyers elevates everyone around him.
“After I caught the first touchdown, I kind of came to the sideline and said I feel like Jakobi Meyers,” Etienne said with a laugh.
“When you got a guy like that just catching everything, I can’t be the one go out there and drop my little one pass, you know?”
The Jaguars weren’t attempting to send a message by inking Meyers to an extension early; it was something that naturally began to come together between the team and Meyers as both sides realized it’d be best to stick together for at least a few more years.
Meyers was in the final year of his original three-year, $33 million deal he signed in Vegas as a free agent. Now, he’s set to make nearly double that over the next three seasons with a reported three-year, $60 million deal with $40 million guaranteed signed on the dotted line.
Seeing Meyers get rewarded is something players will respond well to. It’s a statement, regardless of intent, from the team that tells players that if you play well, you’ll be rewarded.
“I think every guy understands that this is a production-based business and guys can see who does what and I think the locker room typically knows their peers pretty well,” said Coen. “And so, it’s one of those deals where you always want to try to earn what you get in this league as players, as coaches, as teams. I think those guys all understand that.”
The Jaguars will take on the Denver Broncos later this weekend and Meyers will do so with a little bit heavier pockets than he had heading into the week.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky @ Demetrius.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars HC Liam Coen breaks down Jakobi Meyers contract extension
Reporting by Demetrius Harvey, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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