Mike Mayock is entering his first season as an NFL general manager, and he looked all the part in Day One of the NFL Scouting Combine on Wednesday.
Mike Mayock took the media stand at the NFL scouting combine for the first time as general manager of the Oakland Raiders Wednesday. During which he looked poised and confident.
The longtime draft analyst for NFL Network has taken the role head-on in his first year as an NFL general manager, and will be tasked with turning around a Raiders team that finished 4-12 and last in the AFC West. After a promising 2016 season, that landed the team in the playoffs, the team slipped back to the last place in 2018, and had to deal with seeing generational talent Khalil Mack traded right before the year began.
In the nearly 5-minute press conference, he was asked a multitude of questions, one which stood out to me in particular. He was asked about how different trade partners affect defensive and offensive positions.
"“It’s an interesting question and I think what’s happening is, obviously quarterbacks drive the process, but I think as we become more of a pass driven league, we’re seeing more and more potential trade partners with people who can stop the pass; defensive lineman, corners. Obviously, the wide receiver thing is a different converstaion, but I think defensively I’m hearing more and more from coaches about “hey, how do we stop the spread offense? Where are the priorities now on defense?” I think that conversation is part of it also, not just the quarterbacks.”"
Mayock is correct that teams are going more towards the spread offense rather than the running game. Two of the four teams in the playoffs last year, the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints, are pass-first teams, with New Orleans being the primary spread offensive attack led by Drew Brees.
Peyton Manning was famous for this back in his time with the Indianapolis Colts, but to be fair, they had the team built for that style of offense with Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, and Joseph Addai. However, there are teams that still dominate on the ground, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers the last few years with Le’Veon Bell.
Furthering the discussion about the defensive side of the ball, Maycok did go over the playmakers in the AFC West Division in particular:
"“You start talking about Mahomes and Kelce and Tyreek Hill. Just the entire division, when you look at the depth charts on both sides of the ball, with their rosters,” Mayock says “We’ve got a huge challenge ahead of us. I think we probably face some of the best edge rushers in football, on the other side of the ball. You talk about what Kansas City has had. You talk about what the Chargers have. You talk about that monster in Denver. We are very aware of the challenges in our division. We think it might be the most significant in the league.”"
He’s not wrong to bring up the lack of talent on the defensive side of the ball since Mack left. Watching Mack walk out the door was a hard situation for both sides, but so was watching a coach be so non-combative about it let it happen. From an outsiders perspective, it was a poor decision to allow a once in a lifetime player leave the building, but from a team perspective, they gained many picks for the future of the team.
The question is was the reward better than the risk? That’s still to be determined.Mike Mayock has always had sound advice on NFL network through his years of reporting on the scouting combine and I have no doubt he will help Oakland turn the team around.