Meyers may miss time but his place in Raiders’ offense is sizable and secure

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 | 2 a.m.

Jimmy Garoppolo and Jakobi Meyers made eye contact as they broke the huddle and lined up ahead of collaborating for the Raiders’ first touchdown of the year last Sunday.

They both knew the Broncos were giving them the defensive look they hoped to exploit, and then the play went exactly how they expected. Meyers froze opposing cornerback Damarri Mathis with a hesitation move off the line, cut towards the end zone pylon and curled back in to catch a perfectly placed ball from Garoppolo.  

“It was pretty satisfying, not going to lie,” Garoppolo said with a smirk. “We’ve been working on that one.”

Garoppolo and Meyers worked extensively together in training camp, even compared with the high standard already set for new quarterback-receiver tandems. Slot receiver Hunter Renfrow shined early on and star Davante Adams is always good for some splash plays, but Meyers appeared to emerge as Garoppolo’s favorite target.

That came across in the season-opening win over the Broncos where Meyers scored both of the teams’ touchdowns on passes from Garoppolo while also hauling in nine catches for 81 yards. There will likely be a void in the Raiders’ offense starting at 10 a.m. Sunday when the team’s Week 2 game kicks off at Acrisure Stadium in Buffalo without Meyers, who suffered a concussion on the game-clinching drive in Denver.     

Meyers is now in the NFL’s concussion protocol, and while it’s not impossible he clears it in time for the game, it’s also highly improbable. Las Vegas should be able to endure his absence with Adams, who had six catches for 66 yards in the opener, and perhaps a reemergence of Renfrow, who had neither any targets nor catches against Denver on 13 snaps.  

But the 17-16 victory over the Broncos showed what role Meyers will play in the Raiders’ offense when he’s healthy — a substantial one. 

“That’s what ‘Kob’ has been doing all training camp,” Adams said in the locker room after the game. “I just honestly couldn’t wait to see him go out there and be able to put it on tape against somebody else. He did what he had to do. It’s tough to take a hit like that at the end of the game but to be in here still walking around, it’s good to know he’s OK.”

Adams has been hyping up Meyers’ potential in Las Vegas ever since the pair started working out together in the months leading up to training camp. The six-time Pro Bowler even raised eyebrows when he inferred that the New England Patriots, Meyers’ former team, under-utilized his new teammate.

All of that was before Garoppolo had ever thrown to Meyers. The veteran quarterback was recovering from foot surgery and didn’t return to the field until the beginning of training camp.

Some may have expected Garoppolo and Meyers to have crossed paths earlier as the two biggest-name former Patriot acquisitions this offseason but that wasn’t the case. Meyers arrived in New England two years after the franchise traded Garoppolo to San Francisco, meaning they both spent different three-year stretches under current Raider coach Josh McDaniels’ watch as offensive coordinator with the Patriots.

That shared experience, albeit in different time periods, expedited their bond-building going into the season.

“‘Kobs’ has been very consistent,” Garoppolo said. “He’s the same guy every day, comes out puts in the work and as a quarterback when you have a guy like that it makes it easy. You can trust him.”

Meyers said during training camp that, “whenever (Garoppolo) needs me, I’ll be there. He tells me what he needs and we try to make it right.”

Even before developing such a strong rapport, Garoppolo and Meyers looked like natural fits together. Meyers is known for being a sharp route-runner with sure hands on short routes closer to the line of scrimmage, right where Garoppolo is most effective as a precision passer.

Meyers is not available to speak with media until he clears concussion protocol, but as Adams alluded to, he looked to be feeling better after the Broncos’ game despite a helmet-to-helmet hit by Denver safety Kareem Jackson. There’s hope he won’t be out long, and would probably be favored to return for the Raiders’ home opener on Sunday Sept. 24 for Sunday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Raiders would be thrilled considering what Meyers meant to them in the first victory of the year. He might have only made one mistake.

After the touchdown catch on the opening drive, Meyers spiked the ball and stared down Mathis to get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting. It was the first such flag of his five-year NFL career.

Getting lost in the emotion of the moment was understandable; Meyers had been patiently waiting to show off his chemistry with Garoppolo publicly and then do so loudly and clearly right away.   

“Nothing Jakobi did on Sunday surprised me, surprised our team or surprised our unit,” Raiders offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi said. “It's obviously nice to have a productive player, but it's nice to have a dependable player — and that’s how I see Jakobi Meyers.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or