New England Patriots retired safety Devin McCourty was just as surprised as fans of the team when he saw the contract wide receiver Jakobi Meyers was signing with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Meyers is departing the Patriots on a three-year, $33M contract with Las Vegas that is only truly guaranteed for his first season. Meyers was expected to garner over $15 million per year.

"I will say, what I was surprised [about], was Jakobi,” McCourty said on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Wednesday morning. “I thought what Jakobi signed for, for the Raiders was like … eh. Like he was our most productive receiver the last two years, and this year he missed I think two or three games and still was head and shoulders our most productive guy in an offensive system that loves having a guy that can work short routes inside, intermediate routes vertically on third down as the guy usually on third down. So when I saw what he signed for, I was kinda like damn. Like, I thought that would've been a kind of easy contract to bring him back here, and he's a guy that from talking to him, I think he wanted to be back here."

The Patriots now must make moves to not only get their wide receiver corps on the same level it was at last year but somehow better without Meyers. They’re currently left with DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne and Tyquan Thornton as their top options and will probably need to work out a trade or use a high draft pick to truly upgrade the positional group.

"I thought from a leadership standpoint going forward, he's like that guy if I'm a coach, I'm saying, 'Be like Jakobi. Undrafted guy, earned it, works his butt off every single day,” McCourty said. “Everything we said was a weakness for him, he continues to work at it. And the things that we say are his strengths, he just continues to master. Like, be like him.' So I think that's a big loss. Not a very vocal guy, but he's a guy that you say, be like him. Very similar in the mold of [Julian] Edelman. Like, be like him. Come down and crack the safety, which I know you don't like doing, but we're gonna make you crack 10 times in this game, because it's key to winning. Jakobi did that. So I think that was a big loss.

"Yeah, like that shocked me."

The Patriots might not wind up being overly competitive in the AFC East this year if Aaron Rodgers agrees to a trade with the New York Jets, but they should try to put pieces around quarterback Mac Jones so they can evaluate him in Bill O’Brien’s offense.

New England has retained top defensive backs and added to their offensive line this offseason by re-signing cornerbacks Jonathan Jones and Myles Bryant and safety Jabrill Peppers, retaining offensive tackle Yodny Cajuste and signing offensive tackles Calvin Anderson and Riley Reiff.

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