FOXBORO — Jakobi Meyers was happy to be back at Gillette Stadium for the first time as a Patriots opponent, but he wished he’d gotten to face a full-strength New England secondary.
The former Patriots wide receiver said he was disappointed that star cornerback Christian Gonzalez was unable to play in Sunday’s season opener as he nursed a nagging hamstring injury.
“I wanted the opportunity to go against the best, so I wanted him to be out there,” Meyers said after his Raiders defeated his old team 20-13. “I hope he gets well soon, honestly, for the team’s sake. But it don’t change much for me.”
Carlton Davis III, Alex Austin and slot man Marcus Jones were New England’s top cornerbacks for the Week 1 matchup, and they had a tough time covering the slippery Meyers, who caught eight of his 10 targets for 97 yards.
Meyers, whose Patriots tenure ended after the team chose to sign JuJu Smith-Schuster over him in 2023, said he didn’t have any “added incentive” to perform against his former squad. But he did enjoy returning to the area where he spent his first four NFL seasons. He had several family members in attendance.
“It’s like bringing your friends home,” Meyers said. “It was cool to just bring them here, see where I started out. Now we go back to Vegas and get ready for the next one.”
Before the game, Meyers caught up with some of his ex-Patriots teammates — the few that are left after new head coach Mike Vrabel revamped New England’s roster this past offseason. Just eight players from Meyers’ final Patriots team in 2022 are still with the franchise: Jones, Rhamondre Stevenson, Hunter Henry, Kyle Dugger, Anfernee Jennings, Mike Onwenu, Christian Barmore and Jahlani Tavai.
“What I’m learning is that’s the NFL, unfortunately,” Meyers, who requested a trade from the Raiders this summer but was denied, said of the Patriots’ turnover. “It’s a young man’s league, so we all grow up at some point and kind of move around. But for the guys that are still here, I’m extremely proud of them. They played hard, played well, I thought, in my opinion, and it was just really good to see them. I’m just so proud of them, honestly.”
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