Jakobi Meyers is a former undrafted free agent who battled his way onto the New England roster in 2019.
Last year, Meyers had to claw his way into a regular role on the Cam Newton-led offense before going on to lead the Patriots with 59 catches for 729 yards.
Now, four weeks into the 2021 season, the third-year receiver is pretty well established as New England’s No. 1 option both in terms of playing time and production.
Meyers played 56 of a possible 59 snaps against the Buccaneers on Sunday night football, missing time to be checked in the medical tent in the second quarter after taking a big hit.
A couple plays later Meyers was back on the field for a double-pass in which the former college QB connected with Brandon Bolden on a 15-yard catch-and-run.
Beyond leading the Patriots with eight catches on 12 targets for 70 yards in the 19-17 loss to Tampa Bay, Meyers showed off his arm again in the fourth quarter with a 30-yard connection to Nelson Agholor on a reverse pass to help set up what was at that time a 26-yard Nick Folk go-ahead field goal.
For the season, Meyers has now played in just under 95 percent of the Patriots snaps, by far the most on offense of any non-lineman/QB. He leads the offense with 27 receptions (nearly double Kendrick Bourne’s 14) for 246 yards (9.1 avg.).
Meyers is almost always on the field and much of the time is making plays for New England – with both his reliable hands and his arm.
Beyond Meyers’ big role in the Patriots offense, here are some other notes from New England’s snap counts in the Week 4 loss to the Bucs:
--New England played 59 offensive snaps against the Bucs, tied for a four-game season-low. Quarterback Mac Jones and offensive linemen Isaiah Wynn, Shaq Mason and David Andrews were the only Patriots to play 100 percent of the offensive snaps.
--Nelson Agholor was the second-most active receiver, playing 43 snaps. But his 73-percent play time was a season-low.
--N’Keal Harry made his season debut after being activated from IR, playing 15 snaps (25 percent). Harry had one catch for 10 yards and drew a questionable pass interference call on newly-signed Bucs CB Richard Sherman, who played a remarkable 58 snaps (98 percent) just days after joining Tampa off the street.
--With Trent (Trenton if you go by the official inactives list!) Brown missing his third straight game to a calf issue, Yasir Durant got the start at right tackle. He played 20 snaps (34 percent) before giving way to Justin Herron, who played 39 snaps (66 percent). The duo continues to share the job and continues to struggle.
--Michael Onwenu played just 33 snaps (56 percent) at left guard, giving way to Ted Karras for 27 snaps (46 percent). No injury update was ever given for Onwenu, who returned to his usual spot later in the game with Karras working as an eligible blocker. Onwenu had played every snap of the season until Sunday night.
--Damien Harris led all running backs with 36 snaps (61 percent), finishing with four carries for minus-4 yards and two catches for 30 yards.
--J.J. Taylor played a mere 4 snaps (7 percent), which included his one reception after which he fumbled the ball away to the Bucs early in the third quarter.
--With James White on IR, Brandon Bolden played 19 snaps (32 percent) in a backup role. Bolden was pretty productive, with six catches on six targets for 51 yards to go along with one rush for no gain.
--Hunter Henry led the snaps at tight end, with 40 (68 percent). Henry has played somewhere between 40 and 54 snaps in each of his first four games in New England. He finished the Bucs game with four catches on five targets for 32 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown that was his first in a Patriots uniform.
--Fellow big-money tight end addition Jonnu Smith played 28 snaps (47 percent), finishing with three catches on five targets for 14 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown. For the season Smith is averaging a mere 6.8 yards per reception on his 13 catches.
--Defensively the Patriots played 78 snaps against the Bucs, with safety Devin McCourty and cornerbacks J.C. Jackson and Jalen Mills playing every snap. The 78 snaps were a season high for the New England defense.
--Fifteen New England defenders plays at least 28 percent of the snaps against Tampa Bay.
--Dealing with a hamstring injury, safety Kyle Dugger played 60 snaps (77 percent) defense, but interestingly didn’t play a single snap on special teams a week after logging 20 snaps in the kicking game.
--Kyle Van Noy led all non-DBs with 75 snaps (96 percent) despite dealing with a groin injury. Van Noy had missed one game to the injury and had not played more than 72 percent of the defensive snaps in a prior game this season.
--New England’s No. 3 cornerback matching up against the Bucs impressive corps of receivers, Jonathan Jones logged 49 snaps (63 percent) of work mostly against Antonio Brown. The 49 snaps were a season high for Jones.
--Deatrich Wise continues to lead defensive linemen in playing time, on the field for 54 snaps (69 percent) against Tampa Bay. Wise finished with four tackles and a pass defensed.
--Matt Judon was extremely active in his 68 snaps (87 percent) as the Patriots best defensive player. Judon finished with seven tackles, a sack, two tackles for a loss, two QB hits and a key illegal-hands-to-the-face call drawn that wiped out a big Tom Brady to Brown completion for 44 yards early in the third quarter.
--Second-round rookie Christian Barmore played a career-high 43 snaps (55 percent), finishing with two tackles and a QB hit.
--Myles Bryant played 9 snaps (12 percent) on defense after getting promoted from the practice squad and making his season debut.
--Matthew Slater, Justin Bethel and Brandon King logged the most snaps on special teams with 25 (86 percent).
