Passing Fancy

Jakobi Meyers ’18, a wide receiver for the New England Patriots, has caught nearly 100 passes during the past two seasons. But that’s not how he made NFL highlight videos.

Meyers, who played quarterback for his high school team in Georgia, has thrown two passes in the NFL. Both of them went for touchdowns.

The first came this past season during a rainy game against the Baltimore Ravens. The team had practiced the trick play, but Meyers admits he was nervous about the wet conditions. Inside the huddle, Meyers took off his receiving gloves, being careful not to let the Ravens see what he was doing. “I stuck one in my pants real quick,” he says. “I’m not sure what happened with the other one.”

It worked, with Meyers lofting a 24-yard touchdown pass to teammate Rex Burkhead. “It was,” he says, “a dream come true.”

It was a dream that was never realized in college. After switching Meyers to wide receiver, NC State’s coaches tried a few trick plays with him throwing the ball. “It didn’t work at all,” Meyers says bluntly. “I was overthinking things.”

But he seems to have it figured out now. Meyers tossed his second scoring pass — a 19-yard completion to quarterback Cam Newton — in a game late in the season against the New York Jets. Now if he can just catch a touchdown pass, something he has yet to do in the NFL. “I care more about getting first downs,” he says. “But if I do score, I’ll be super excited.”