The Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots could all use some wide receiver help ahead of the trade deadline.
The Steelers are in the same boat they were last season when they lacked a true No. 2 target opposite George Pickens, except this time around it’s DK Metcalf leading the group after Pickens was shipped to Dallas during the offseason.
San Francisco has a different situation. Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall and Brandon Aiyuk would make for a strong trio, but injuries have been an issue for Jennings and Pearsall and there’s no telling when Aiyuk will be back from his torn ACL suffered last season.
In New England, Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte have done a good job as Drake Maye’s top-two receivers, but there isn’t much else behind those two and the Pats should be looking to bolster Maye’s group of weapons to help the youngster continue to move in the right direction in his development.
NFL Spin Zone’s Sayre Bedinger has a remedy for those three teams and it comes in the form of Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, who he suspects will be on the trade block at the deadline.
The Raiders said they weren’t trading Jakobi Meyers, but the on-field results can change things a bit. There should be demand for a player like Meyers, who has been mostly sure-handed and actually quite underrated the past couple of years.
Meyers has already expressed that he no longer wants to be with the Raiders, and there are a variety of teams that could get more use out of him for the duration of this season.
Potential landing spots: Patriots, Falcons, 49ers, Steelers
Meyers has been disgruntled in Las Vegas this year. The veteran wideout is in the final year of his contract and was seeking an extension after a career year that saw him tally 1,000 yards for the first time, but the two sides couldn’t get it done and that led to Meyers requesting a trade, which did not happen.
Now, Meyers is heading for free agency in 2026 and isn’t likely to be back given the Raiders’ apparent lack of an appetite for extending him. And, with the Raiders looking like an awful team at 1-4, they would be crazy not to deal him before he departs for nothing next year.
If he hits the trade block, Meyers could be the best wide receiver available. Meyers has produced impressive numbers over the past five seasons (4,882 career receiving yards) despite routinely having a terrible quarterback situation.
He has 700 yards or more in each campaign in that span, including four seasons with over 800 yards, one of which was the aforementioned 1,000-yard showing during the 2024 campaign.
Meyers in Pittsburgh makes the most sense.
He would be a great No. 2 option for Aaron Rodgers and would push Calvin Austin to the WR3 role he’s more suited to play. A duo of Metcalf and Meyers would set Pittsburgh up for the rest of the season, finally solving a multi-year issue.
A one-two punch of Diggs and Meyers would be great for Maye in New England, a team Meyers is already quite familiar with.
When you round out the group of pass-catchers with Boutte and tight end Hunter Henry, that’s a group that can propel Maye to an even better showing that what we’ve seen thus far in his sophomore campaign.
The 49ers are less likely to make a move given the fact that they have what they need in-house already if not for injuries. That said, if injuries continue to plague San Fran’s group, we could see general manager John Lynch make a move.
Bedinger mentions the Falcons as another team that could have interest and that is not a bad idea, either. Atlanta has Drake London and Darnell Mooney as its top two, but Mooney has battled injury this season and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to provide a reliable veteran option like Meyers for Michael Penix Jr.
If we had to put money on it, we’d say the Steelers are the most likely team to make a play for Meyers. Pittsburgh may only have one shot at this with Rodgers and general manager Omar Khan needs to be aggressive if he wants to have an opportunity to fully cash in with the Hall of Fame quarterback.
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