Amid another rough season for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2024, wide receiver Jakobi Meyers set career-highs in catches with 87 and receiving yards with 1,027. He would've had more than four touchdowns with better quarterback play as well, and he had zero drops on 129 targets.
Still, with four straight 800-yard seasons in spite of lackluster quarterback play, Meyers continues to be overlooked. He may not have any credible place in the upper tier at his position, but one would be hard-pressed to rank 20 or 25 NFL wide receivers who are better than him.
The Raiders upgraded at quarterback in a major way this offseason by trading for Geno Smith. Tight end Brock Bowers is still the No. 1 passing game target in the Las Vegas offense, but Meyers is clearly the No. 2 option, even accounting for what rookie running back Ashton Jeanty can add.
Jakobi Meyers is a fantasy football sleeper for the 2025 NFL season
It's obviously very early in fantasy football draft season for 2025, but things do tend to ramp up in late May. So, there's some relevance to a growing sample of Average Draft Position (ADP) data, which will linger all the way through the summer.
Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report provided a fresh list of the biggest fantasy sleepers, breakouts and busts for early summer drafts. Given that Meyers is currently projected to be the 44th wide receiver taken in fantasy drafts, he made the cut as a sleeper.
"Meyers should open the season as the No. 1 WR in Las Vegas," Davenport wrote. "That may mean taking a back seat to Bowers in target share, and repeating last year's WR20 finish could be a tall ask. But given Meyers' modest asking price, a finish anywhere in fantasy WR3 territory would still make the 28-year-old a solid value in fantasy drafts."
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Per Kevin Patra of NFL.com, Meyers was fourth in the league in contested catch rate last season. Unfortunately, according to Pro Football Focus, just three of his 10 end zone targets were considered catchable.
Smith will be the best quarterback Meyers has played with in his career by a decent margin. One concern is the Raiders could run the ball more proficiently this year, which would likely reduce Meyers' route volume.
It's hard to see Meyers' average draft position moving up to such a degree that he doesn't remain undervalued through the teeth of draft season this year. When it makes sense, savvy fantasy managers should see an opportunity to capitalize on how under-the-radar and underappreciated Meyers is league-wide.