Obviously, the biggest made by the Las Vegas Raiders in NFL free agency so far was to bring in quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on a three-year contract. But he wasn’t the only offensive move made by the franchise as they also signed wide receiver Jakobi Meyers to a three-year deal.
One thing that both Garoppolo and Meyers have in common is familiarity with head coach Josh McDaniels’ offensive system. Both spent years under McDaniels when he was the offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots and that familiarity is something former Raiders great Rich Gannon believes is a great thing.
Gannon recently spoke about the signings made by the Raiders and he believes the team bringing in Meyers is ‘great’ and points to him being familiar with the terminology and system overall as allowing him to fit in quickly with his new team, via The 33rd Team:
Former #NFL MVP @RichGannon12 on what makes the Jakobi Meyers signing so great for the #Raiders pic.twitter.com/7aBFOy5ZbR
— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) March 14, 2023
It is something that many may not think about but does make sense. As Gannon pointed out, off-season workouts are much more limited now than they were years ago which gives new players less time to build chemistry and get comfortable with their new teams.
Often times what takes the longest to learn is the terminology used in the different offenses as a lot of teams use similar concepts, but call them different things. Being able to move through that part will allow Meyers to just jump right in and truly begin fitting in with his Raiders teammates.
This offense has the chance to be very special as Garoppolo has proven that he can succeed with great weapons around him and he has that with the Raiders. DaVante Adams, Meyers and Hunter Renfrow have the chance to be one of the best wide receiver groups in the NFL. Combine that with a game-changing tight end in Darren Waller and All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs and the pieces of perhaps the highest-scoring offense in the league are all there.
It will simply be about everyone getting on the same page and McDaniels getting the best out of this group as a whole and as Gannon noted, it should take Meyers and Garoppolo less time to learn the ins and outs of this offensive system. If that can take place, the Raiders will be a very dangerous team this upcoming season.
