It was an up and down rookie season for Patriots wide out Jakobi Meyers.
The undrafted rookie had a great training camp and preseason showing off chemistry with Jarrett Stidham, but then struggled to develop chemistry with Tom Brady in the regular season, which resulted in him only having 26 receptions for 359 yards.
Speaking via video conference after Patriots practice Tuesday, Meyers acknowledged he needs to be better he was a year ago.
"Last year, I definitely used as a base line just how I want to move forward. I just feel like I need to be an overall better receiver," he said. "There's nothing specific I can say that I just worked on because I would be telling the defense what to look for. I tried to get better mentally, my footwork. I went and worked with different trainers. We had a long time to lift and rest.
"I did gain a little weight, did stay in the gym a little bit. I just want to be a better overall receiver coming in because I knew that it would only have to get better from last year. That was just a stepping stone and I would have to propel myself into a better situation."
With that being said, he learned a lot as a rookie.
"How much of the game is actually mental," Meyers said. "Growing up as a kid, you hear that it's 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. Actually getting here and seeing how people train their minds and the time they spend mentally to get ready to play every day, it just shows you what you need to do on the mental side to be ready."
Meyers is no lock to make the roster as there are several receivers competing for the final few spots at the position. He seems to be competing with Damiere Byrd, Gunner Olszewski and Devin Ross for one or potentially two spots.
Having one year of experience, Meyers knows consistency goes a long way.
"That's probably one of the most important things about playing this game," he said. "They don't want guys who can just come in here and do it one day or have one good practice. They want a guy who can practice good all year. That's something I'm definitely trying to work on this year – being more consistent, finishing out the year strong and being here every day. Not a guy they just count on to make one play and then he's done."
With no preseason games, all Meyers and the other players on the roster can do is try and have the best practice they can each and every day.
"We don't want to come out and have a good day on offense and then tomorrow's terrible," Meyers said. "Every day you want to put your best foot forward, continue to stack days and that way we'll have a great product when we look back at the end and we'll be proud of what we accomplished. We do just want to stack days and get better every day."
The Patriots will finalize their initial 53-man roster on Sept. 5.
