Jakobi Meyers Wants Out of Raiders and Browns Could Be His New Home
The buzz around Cleveland Browns trade targets continues to grow.
Cleveland is looking to address a number of team concerns as the year continues forward. The offense as a whole could use a few more additions, especially in the offensive line and wide receiver rooms.
As the 2025 NFL Trade Deadline approaches, the Browns are beginning to be swamped by a number of trade rumors, including one with former Ohio State wide receiver Garrett Wilson. While the Jets will be more than likely unwilling to move on from the young and talented Wilson, a team that may be looking to ship away one of their top wideouts is the Las Vegas Raiders.
Jakobi Meyers leads the Raiders in targets with 42 on the campaign, despite missing Week 7. The 28-year-old wideout has been extremely reliable over the past three seasons, playing in a total of 37 games for the Raiders.
However, that ship has started to sail as Meyers reportedly requested a trade out of Las Vegas.
"Oh, for sure," Meyers said Tuesday when asked if he is standing firm on his trade request. "But I'm a professional at the end of the day. I'm just trying to play good football. If I'm here, I'll play good football. If I'm not here, I'll go out there and play wherever I'm supposed to be."
He requested a trade from the organization after being unable to reach an agreement on a new contract.
"[The Raiders] know how I feel," Meyers said. "It's no reason for me to keep going back crying to them, 'Can you get me out of here?' If you move me, you move me. But in the meantime, I got some real people that I care about next to me, so I'm trying to make sure I'm being my best self for them."
So, can and should the Browns swoop in to make a move for the disgruntled weapon?
At 6-foot-2, 193 pounds, Meyers sits as one of the most physical and agile route runners in the league. His ability to haul in catches through contact, break past most teams' secondaries and play physical is eye-catching.
He has a career average of 55.% catch rate, with that mark sitting at 58% this season, meaning the former North Carolina State standout can hold onto the football.
The Browns currently have just one wide receiver on the roster they can consider to be a "long-term staple," and that would be Jerry Jeudy. He has been the team's WR1 for the past two seasons, but the franchise has been unable to secure a No. 2 alongside him.
Meyers would be perfect to fill that role and take some of the pressure off Jeudy and free him up a bit more against opposing teams.
In 2024, Meyers caught 87 passes, taking them for 1,027 yards. It was the first time he eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving in a season in his career. At 28 years old, he presents a unique opportunity for consistent production and an untapped ceiling. His ability to make plays in the red zone is also something that draws teams' interest.
Cleveland also has the draft capital to make a move for a player like Meyers.
The team recently brought in a number of late-round flyers in trades involving Kenny Pickett to the Raiders, Joe Flacco to the Bengals and Greg Newsome II to the Jaguars. Including late round selections, the team could also move on from a third or fourth rounder in this year's draft if Las Vegas was in need of one.
The only thing the front office of the Browns would need to do is ensure that Meyers could get paid, and that they could. Obviously, Cleveland is struggling financially due to the horrific Deshaun Watson trade, but general manager Andrew Berry is always able to move things around to ensure a player gets paid their worth.
As the Browns look to capitalize on the current momentum the team has found after taking down the Miami Dolphins this past weekend, moves as the deadline approaches should be expected.
Cleveland rarely sits quiet and its unlikely this trade deadline will be one where they do.
Howie’s Hubris: How the Eagles’ Identity Vanished and Why It’s Not Just Saquon

Once the NFL’s gold standard for rushing dominance, the Philadelphia Eagles have fallen from historically great to historically lost because of a mix of injuries, front-office overconfidence, and schematic drift. Translation: Their identity is gone.
The frustrating part isn’t just that the Eagles can’t get Saquon Barkley going. It’s that every week they almost do, and then it vanishes.
In Denver, Barkley ripped off a 17-yard burst on his second carry. The rest of the game? Four carries, ten yards. Against the Giants, he opened with runs of 18 and 13 yards — something he never even did back-to-back during his MVP-level 2024 season. After that? Ten carries for 27 yards. In Minnesota, he had five carries for 25 yards on the opening drive, then thirteen for nineteen the rest of the night.
“I feel like in recent weeks we’ve been really good in the beginning, in the run game,” Barkley said Wednesday. “We kind of fall off after that, and that starts with me. I’ve got to be better.”
An Identity Gone Missing
Under head coach Nick Sirianni, the Eagles built their identity around trench dominance and balance. For four years, they bullied teams on the ground.
Season | Rush Yards/Game |
NFL Rank | Total Yards | Yards/Carry | Note |
2021 | 159.7 | 1st | 2,715 | 4.9 | League’s No. 1 ground game |
2022 | 147.6 | 5th | 2,509 | 4.6 | Top-5 |
2023 | 136.4 | 8th | 2,319 | 4.3 | Regression commensurate with late season collapse |
2024 | 179.3 | 2nd | 3,048 | 4.9 | Barkley’s historic 2,005-yard MVP season |
2025 | 91.3 | 28th | — | — | Through 7 games |
A year ago, the Eagles were the second-best rushing team in football, dominant, balanced, relentless and lethal.
Now? They’re bottom-five. It’s painful to watch and Barkley’s production mirrors the collapse:
- 1st quarter: 5.1 yards per carry (4th-best in the NFL)
- Rest of game: 2.8 yards per carry
His overall 3.27 yards per rush is the lowest by any Eagles back through seven games since Swede Hanson in 1933, he team’s first year of existence.
Injuries, Absences, and a Costly Miscalculation
Sirianni called it “team football” and he’s right. This isn’t just on Barkley. A lot of it traces back to Howie Roseman’s roster math.
The offensive line that once bulldozed opponents is now a mess. It’s being held together by patchwork. Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens have missed time, the depth behind them has been shaky at best, and the chemistry that defined the unit is gone.
Then came the Mekhi Becton mistake, a somewhat quiet decision with bellowing consequences. Roseman let the massive guard walk to the Chargers for just $10 million per year, confident the Eagles’ developmental system would again produce ready replacements. The Eagles acquired former first round pick guard Kenyon Green from the Texans in a trade for safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson last March figuring that offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland could just work his magic like he did with Becton. It didn’t work and after waiving Green twice in September, he is currently unemployed. Becton’s size and edge toughness are badly missed, and the line looks less-than ordinary for the first time in years.
Howie’s Hubris
Roseman’s real misstep wasn’t losing players, it was believing he could replace greatness by formula. After Jason Kelce and D’Andre Swift departed following the 2023 season, Roseman rebuilt on the fly. He signed Barkley, tweaked the blocking pieces, and watched the new unit explode for over 3,000 rushing yards in 2024. It was a masterclass. But it fooled him, again.
He assumed the same developmental magic, injury luck, and player buy-in would happen again in 2025. But the depth hasn’t progressed, at least not yet. What worked once through timing, chemistry and good fortune has disintegrated under assumption.
Inside Barkely’s Collapse
Physically, Barkley still looks like that guy he did last year, explosive, decisive, and violent in space. But without holes, he’s pressing. He leads the NFL with 21 runs for negative yardage, accounting for nearly 19 percent of his carries, almost double his 2024 rate.
“I’ve got to do a better job of not taking negative runs,” he said. “I own the running game. That’s my responsibility. I was brought here to make plays in the run game, and I’m not making plays.”
It’s not fatigue. It’s not wear-and-tear from 482 touches last year he contends. It’s structural. The lanes are gone and he’s pressing because of it.
Where’d Who Go?
Against the Vikings, the Eagles became the first team in 11 years to win a game with 300-plus passing yards and fewer than 50 rushing yards. Survive and advance. That’s been Eagles football so far this year. But high wire acts usually end up in chalk outlines and in the NFL if you can’t run the football consistently you’re in serious trouble long term.
The Birds’ record still says 5-2, but the identity has disappeared. The physical edge that once defined them, the pounding, relentless, clock-eating rhythm that gave defenses nightmares has left the building.
“People get caught up in how winning works,” Barkley said. “It’s not reality. This isn’t Madden. Whatever it looks like to win, that’s what we’ll keep doing.”
Fair enough King Saquon. But football has been around a while and the basic grass roots formula still works – running the ball and defense. Those two elements have always traveled well and while you might be able to squeak by without them in the short term, over the long haul you’re doomed to collapse. Last year the Birds finished 1st in defense, 2nd in rushing and 7th in passing. That’s called elite balance. Right now the Eagles are 28th in rushing, 26th in passing and 17th in overall defense. If they don’t rediscover balance soon, the wins will stop coming.
Broad Street Bullied
The Eagles didn’t just lose their running game they lost their reflection. From the NFL’s most complete offense to a one-dimensional team hoping its quarterback dons his cape every week, the decline has been fast, loud, and self-inflicted. Until Philly rebuilds their offensive trenches and restores the physical identity that made them Super Bowl Champions last year, the Birds will continue to spin their wheels and have to rely on the passing game and special teams to bail them out weekly. Unfortunately the bully keeps getting pushed around.