Julian Edelman "still shook" the Patriots let Jakobi Meyers leave in free agency

FOXBORO -- The New England Patriots let Jakobi Meyers leave in free agency over the offseason, a move that continues to hurt the team's offense. It will likely hurt their defense on Sunday too, when the Pats have to face Meyers and his new team, the Raiders, out in Las Vegas.

Subtracting Meyers from the offense has taken away Mac Jones' security blanket, a sure-handed receiver who could get open and make catches when the New England offense desperately needed someone -- anyone -- to make a play. The Patriots have been bereft of playmakers on offense through the first five weeks of the season and New England sits at an embarrassing 1-4. The offense hasn't scored a touchdown in two and a half games heading into Sunday's matchup with the Raiders.

Meyers, meanwhile, is thriving in Vegas. He had seven catches in a Monday night win over the Green Bay Packers in Week 5, and hauled in his third touchdown of the season in the 17-14 Raiders victory. Meyers has 25 receptions for Vegas on the year.

Meyers signed a modest three-year, $33 million contract with the Raiders when he hit free agency, something the Patriots would have had no issues matching. Instead, Bill Belichick opted to give JuJu Smith-Schuster a three-year, $25.5 million contract. Smith-Schuster has looked both lost and slow out there for New England, spending key moments on the sidelines rather than in the game. He has just 14 catches on the year and hasn't been the YAC beast he was touted as, and is likely going to be out a while after suffering a head injury last Sunday. 

The veteran Smith-Schuster was supposed to come in and not just fill the Meyers role, but surpass the productivity New England was getting out him. It made sense on paper, but as we all know, stuff on paper doesn't always translate to the field.

And it's left a former Patriot, one who caught a lot of passes in a New England uniform, "shook."

"I'm still a little shook on the Jakobi Meyers departure," Julian Edelman said Monday on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. "I didn't get that."

As Edelman noted, Meyers did everything that the Patriots are looking for this current crop of receivers to do for Jones. 

"He could separate a lot. He could run routes. He was tough in the run game. He would go in and block [with] force," said Edelman. "And that's what you preach as a New England receiver: Get open, catch the ball, and block in the run game. Those are the three things you hear all the time. This receiver group we have, it just seems like they're struggling to create separation regardless of the reason. They haven't been able to separate."

Overall, Edelman said that Belichick needs help when making decisions for the New England offense. Especially when it comes to making selections in the NFL Draft.

"I think he needs a little help on the offensive side. You look at the defensive picks, they all look pretty good. They always come out and they perform. The Christian Gonzalez kid, before he got hurt, looked like he was playing good," said Edelman. "But we have whiffed -- and I hate talking about Coach like this -- but we have whiffed on a lot of offensive skill-position players. I won't call guys out, but there were three, four receivers when I was playing that we got in top rounds that ... You look in camp, and you can always see from a guy that's drafted high. You see one trait. 

"You know they're raw, but you could see one trait. 'Yep, that's a first-rounder.' You're looking, and you're like, 'Ehh, what's going on here? That's not a first-rounder. I don't know what's going on,'" he said.

While Edelman didn't single anyone out, there's a long list of receivers that just haven't worked out after the Patriots invested some pretty high draft capital in them. N'Keal Harry is the biggest bust of them all, after Belichick used a 2019 first-round pick on the receiver. But he's not the only one, with Aaron Dobson (second round in 2013), Josh Boyce (fourth round in 2013), Taylor Price (third round in 2010), and Brandon Tate (third round in 2009) also disappointing high-round selections by Belichick. He's been much better at finding undrafted gems like Meyers and Edelman.

"I think he would be the first to tell you that he's had some screw-ups," Edelman said. "He's a very accountable guy. And I do think that they probably do need a little more help on the offensive side of scouting, or something."