The Las Vegas Raiders are in a bit of a precarious situation ahead of the 2025 NFL season. Despite numerous upgrades to the offensive staff and personnel, star wide receiver Jakobi Meyers has made it known that he is not happy with his contract situation and wants out of Las Vegas.
Granted, Meyers is being the consumate professional and continuing to practice with his teammates, and the expectation is that he will suit up in Week 1 against the New England Patriots. But based on his recent comments, things are far from reaching a resolution.
If the new regime does not want to extend Meyers before seeing him play this season, and Meyers is not escatic about playing under his current deal, then the Raiders have an obvious move to make in the meantime that would smooth the waters.
Raiders must bump Jakobi Meyers' pay for 2025 NFL season
On Wednesday, the San Francisco 49ers bumped wide receiver Jauan Jennings' pay for the 2025 season. Earlier this offseason, he also made it known that he was unhappy with his contract situation, but now he'll make $10.5 million this season instead of $7.5 million.
These two situations mirror each other quite a bit, so Las Vegas should be looking to increase Meyers' pay for the 2025 campaign. Meyers is set to make about $15 million this season, but if the Raiders bumped that to around $20-$23 million, it's hard to imagine Meyers arguing that.
Las Vegas has the cap space to make this possible, and it would buy both sides some time to evaluate how things are going and allow them to reassess at the end of the season. Then, the Raiders can decide if they want to extend Meyers or let him walk.
RELATED: Raiders' biggest breakout star is flying under the radar in Chip Kelly's offense
Extending Meyers would appease both him and Raider Nation, and it seems to make sense for the team to keep him around. However, if he left in free agency, Meyers would surely net the team a third or fourth-round compensatory draft pick.
The worst case scenario would be putting a freeze on negotiations and creating a tense situation in the locker room. This could easily become a distraction and hurt the product on the field, as well as decrease the Raiders' chances of striking a favorable deal with Meyers, whatever it will be.
There may not be an easy solution that completely mends the fences at this point, but the 49ers just laid the blueprint for what the next step is between Meyers and the new leadership in Las Vegas. It's now up to John Spytek and Pete Carroll to decide how they want this to shake out.