The Dynasty Fantasy Football Impact of Jakobi Meyers signing in Las Vegas

Ken Kelly

There are always teams that emerge early in free agency as the uber-aggressive, trying to do everything they can to use their salary cap space and improve their teams quickly. This year’s most active franchises clearly include the Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders, who are seemingly in on just about every free agent out there. The Raiders signed Jimmy Garoppolo yesterday and remained active today by signing former Patriots wide receiver Jakobi Meyers to a three-year deal worth $33 million. Let’s take a look at ever-changing value landscape of players affected by the signing.

Jakobi Meyers, WR LV

Meyers could be best known for playing his first 38 career games without posting a single receiving touchdown. However, he really shouldn’t be. Over his four years in New England, he proved to be the most consistent receiver on the roster as he caught 235 passes for 2,758 receiving yards and eventually scoring eight touchdowns. The Patriots attempted to replace him with other players during his tenure there and he seemed to keep coming back to the top just like the heel of a bread loaf. While his 67/804/6 line in 2022 wasn’t quite as good as his 83/866/2 in 2021, Meyers has been a decent WR2/3 the past couple of seasons.

Dynasty managers were hoping one of two things would happen with Meyers this off-season – those included him signing as a bad team’s WR1 or slotting in as a dominant offensive team’s WR2. Instead, he’s going to Las Vegas to pair with Davante Adams as a WR2 in a, well, not-so-explosive passing attack. This has all the makings of a signing that’s better in reality than fantasy as Meyers may find it tough to repeat last year’s season catching passes from Jimmy Garoppolo. On the plus side, Josh McDaniels obviously knows him well from his time in New England and will find ways to utilize his talents. In the end, Meyers’ ranking of WR54 could tick up a touch now that a team has a big investment in him. It’s just going to be tough to count on him as the team’s likely third option behind Davante Adams and Darren Waller, especially on a running team that revolves around the production of Josh Jacobs.

meyersadpJimmy Garoppolo, QB LV

Having your new team add quality receivers is never a bad thing. As we said yesterday, the biggest question with Jimmy G is never about his talent or ability – it’s about his availability. Having Meyers in tow is going to help the offense and Garoppolo should have every opportunity to be a successful QB2 with occasional QB1 upside in dynasty leagues.

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Davante Adams, WR LV

The only thing that’s going to really affect Adams’ ADP at this point is his age. As he hits age 30, there is an inevitable decline on the horizon. However, he had a career high 180 targets last season, the Raiders still haven’t fixed their defense, and the addition of Meyers just isn’t going to change his status of the target hog in the offense. Adams remains a prime trade candidate for contending teams who have a two or three year window to compete.

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Hunter Renfrow, WR LV

If there’s a loser in this deal, it’s likely Renfrow. A year after a 103/1,038/9 season, Renfrow nose-dived with Josh McDaniels, recording just 36 catches for 330 yards and two scores last season in ten games played. With Meyers likely moving around the lineup and playing in the slot at times, a bounce back season for Renfrow just doesn’t look to be in the cards, especially with so many other players demanding targets.  His ADP is tanking at the moment and mirroring that of some mismanaged banks.

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Darren Waller, TE LV

Much like Renfrow, Waller had a down year in 2022. While much of that can be blamed on injury, he still posted just a 28/388/3 season in nine games played. If you stretch that out to a full season, those numbers are still well behind the pace we’re used to seeing from the once dominant tight end. The big question with Waller is simple – can Josh McDaniels figure out a way to use him?  The addition of Meyers really shouldn’t affect him much, but there are serious questions about his future. Now 30, Waller (and Renfrow) may simply need a change of scenery to get back to where they were statistically.

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Mack Hollins and Keelan Cole, WR FAs

The addition of Meyers seems to make it rather unlikely this pair makes their way back to Las Vegas next season. They are likely bound for new homes in free agency.

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Mac Jones, QB NE

Losing your best receiver is rarely a recipe for success and Jones badly needs a good season to solidify his spot as the long-term answer in New England. Last year, Jones threw for just 2,997 yards with 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. In fact, his numbers were worse than in his rookie season in every statistical category. At one point, many thought he should be benched for Bailey Zappe. Yikes. The Patriots need to work hard to get Jones some more weapons as they’ve now lost both Jonnu Smith and Jakobi Meyers the past two days. Simply put, this is an offense that withstand losing anyone at the moment. The dynasty shine on Jones is dimming quickly and he has a lot of questions to answer this season. Will he even be equipped to do so?

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DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, WRs NE

At this point, Parker and Bourne are the top two targets for the Patriots. Unfortunately, Parker has never been able to stay healthy through long stretches of time and Bourne has never been that consistent. The Patriots could bring back Nelson Agholor, but does that really instill a lot of confidence? New England may have to simply bite the bullet and go after someone via a trade or look very hard in the NFL Draft to find another pass catcher to help out Jones and the offense. Right now, this is honestly looking like one of the worst rosters in terms of skill position players in the entire NFL.

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ken kelly
The Dynasty Fantasy Football Impact of Jakobi Meyers signing in Las Vegas