It's been a week of regrets for Pittsburgh Steelers fans. After watching quarterback Sam Darnold lead the Seahawks to a 38-37 victory over the Rams—a quarterback the Steelers could have signed during the 2025 offseason—the Steelers are reminded of their regret of getting outbid at the NFL trade deadline.
Thursday Night Football included another impressive performance by Rashid Shaheed, one of the receivers Pittsburgh had its eye on at the deadline. But not landing Jakobi Meyers has already come back to bite them.
Fans were reminded of Meyers again, as the veteran receiver recently inked a three-year, $60 million extension with his new team. And quite frankly, he might be worth every penny.
Since he arrived in Jacksonville, Meyers has started four of six games while catching 27 passes on 38 targets (71.1 percent catch rate) for 355 yards and three touchdowns. Meyer's 65.8 percent success rate since being traded to the Jaguars is higher than that of superstar receivers like Jaxon Smith-Njigba (62.2%), Amon-Ra St. Brown (57.8%), and Ja'Marr Chase (54.2%).
In six games with the Jaguars, quarterback Trevor Lawrence has a passer rating of 104.6 while targeting Meyers, and the veteran wide receiver is averaging an impressive 9.3 yards per target on his new team.
The Pittsburgh Steelers missed out on Jakobi Meyers at the NFL trade deadline
Despite getting traded halfway through the season—and spending much of the year on a dumpster-fire Raiders team—Meyers is one of the most efficient wide receivers in the NFL this season on a per-target basis, in terms of success rate.
It's no coincidence that the Jaguars offense saw a surge immediately after he arrived. Since landing with Jacksonville, the Jaguars' offense is averaging 26.9 points per game and 328.0 yards per game. Meyer's team is also currently on a five-game winning streak.
While it's impossible to say that the results would have been the same if Meyers had been traded to the Steelers, there's no question he would be an upgrade over every receiver not named DK Metcalf. Adam Thielen has been a disappointment since signing with Pittsburgh, and this team still doesn't have a capable WR2 to turn to late in the season.
Though a contract of up to $20 million per season might seem like a lot for a player like Meyers, it's already starting to pay dividends for Jacksonville. Meyers is a sneaky-good WR talent, thanks to his blend of size, his route tree, and his natural ability. His ability to work the slot or the boundary reminds me of a discounted version of CeeDee Lamb (as he shares a similar play style and physique).
Jakobi Meyers could have helped solve a long-standing issue at the wide receiver position for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Let's hope Mike Tomlin figures out how to make things work the rest of the way with the lackluster receiving options his team has.