New England Patriots Place Second-Round Tender On Receiving Leader Jakobi Meyers

The New England Patriots’ top wide receiver from the past two seasons is on track to be back for another.

The organization has tendered restricted free agent Jakobi Meyers at the second-round level, as his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport on Sunday.

Meyers, 25, is scheduled to earn a non-guaranteed $3.986 million as a result in 2022.

The NFL’s additional tender values were set at $5.432 million for the first round, $2.540 million for the original round and $2.433 million for the right of first refusal. In the event a team submits an offer sheet to Meyers and the Patriots decline to match, a second-round draft selection would be exchanged as compensation.

The North Carolina State product originally arrived on a three-year, $1.765 million contract in the spring of 2019. The agreement carried a $10,000 signing bonus and $60,000 in guaranteed base salary for an undrafted rookie who has gone on to appear in 46 games.

Following his 81 targets, 59 receptions and 729 receiving yards as an emerging NFL sophomore, Meyers again led New England in all three categories last campaign. He did so while carrying an $850,000 base salary.

Meyers’ 83 catches over the course of 126 attempts were turned into 866 yards. And after previously throwing two touchdowns, the Wolfpack’s two-star quarterback recruit out of Georgia’s Arabia Mountain High School reeled in the initial pair of his career.

Those long-awaited trips to the end zone came versus the Cleveland Browns in November and the Jacksonville Jaguars in January.

On a reinvested depth chart featuring Kendrick Bourne’s three-year, $15 million deal and Nelson Agholor’s two-year, $22 million deal, Meyers started 16 games. He played 84.1% of the offensive snaps in the process, which finished behind only rookie quarterback Mac Jones and veteran interior linemen Shaq Mason and David Andrews.

Of which, 66.3% took place in the slot for Meyers, per Pro Football Focus.

He expressed his interest in remaining with New England following the team’s AFC wild-card playoff exit against the Buffalo Bills.

“Honestly, I feel like I’ve just gotten better as a player, a person, all of it,” the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Meyers of his said of his time in Foxborough. “I think about my first day in the league, just where I was mentally, I just wasn’t who I am today. I just feel like I’m a much better player, much better man. And when you got a situation like that, it’s something you want to hold on to.”

Former first-team All-Pro returner Gunner Olszewski and International Player Pathway fullback Jakob Johnson also check in as restricted free agents for the Patriots. Both of whom earned $850,000 in base salary last season, as well. The latter will not be tendered, according to multiple reports.

The NFL’s legal negotiating window opens at 12 p.m. ET on Monday. The new league year follows at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, which coincides with the deadline for clubs to submit tenders to restricted free agents.