JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Jakobi Meyers spent the better part of his NFL career playing \u201cout of hate and anger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, after signing a three-year, $60 million contract extension with the Jaguars on Friday, he has a \u201cwhole different feeling\u201d heading into Sunday\u2019s game at Denver.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably haven\u2019t had this much belief behind me in a long time,\u201d said Meyers, 29, who got his professional start as an undrafted rookie free agent with New England in 2019. \u201dJust to be out there and play for people who believe in you and prove them right, it\u2019s a whole different feeling. I feel like it kind of pushed me a little bit more than the anger did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meyers\u2019 representatives and Jaguars general manager James Gladstone worked on the extension for weeks, an indication how well the relationship has worked after just a month together.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville gave up two third-day draft picks in 2026 to acquire Meyers from Las Vegas at the trade deadline in early November. Meyers has 27 catches for 355 yards and three touchdowns in six games since and has quickly become quarterback Trevor Lawrence\u2019s most dependable receiver.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping that they feel just as blessed as I do in this situation,\u201d Meyers said. \u201dBut if they don\u2019t now, I\u2019m hoping they feel it by the end at least.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meyers\u2019 ability to make contested catches was his \u201csuperpower,\u201d Gladstone said. Meyers has one drop this season and has never had more than two in any of his NFL seasons.<\/p>\n
Meyers is one of a handful of guys who were afterthoughts \u2014 or not even on Jacksonville\u2019s roster \u2014 in training camp. The list includes receiver Tim Patrick, tight end Quintin Morris, left tackle Cole Van Lanen, defensive tackle Matt Dickerson, cornerback Greg Newsome II and pass-rushers Dennis Gardeck, Danny Striggow and B.J. Green.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every guy understands that this is a production-based business, and guys can see who does what,\u201d coach Liam Coen said. \u201cI think the locker room typically knows their peers pretty well. So it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meyers has been arguably Jacksonville\u2019s most important addition. The Jaguars are 5-1 and averaging 31.8 points \u2014 nearly 10 more a game \u2014 since acquiring him.<\/p>\n
Meyers was scheduled to become a free agent after this season. His new deal includes $40 million guaranteed and keeps him under contract through 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe obvious connection between he and Trevor early on, you could feel that there was chemistry there and a guy that\u2019s prepared like a true pro since he\u2019s got here,\u201d Coen said. \u201cAnytime you can get guys like that, where you have continued chemistry and you feel like it gets better each week, I\u2019m really happy for the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/p>\n
Mark Long, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Jakobi Meyers spent the better part of his NFL career playing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-89802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}