The Las Vegas Raiders opened eyes in September when they made Michael Mayer the fourth-highest-paid tight end in the NFL with a three-year, $45 million contract extension. Brock Bowers is in line to get paid handsomely soon, so there will be a lot of cap dollars tied up at tight end.
That kind of investment in Mayer clearly fortified his place in Klint Kubiak's plans for the Raiders' offense this season and beyond. As a traditional in-line tight end, the former second-round pick can absolutely coexist with Bowers, who can and will be deployed like a wide receiver.
Bowers' absence in the first two games this season put an extra spotlight on Mayer, and he delivered. When Bowers made his season debut in Week 3, Mayer remained heavily involved with an 87.1% snap share and a touchdown on one of his three catches.
And while Bowers popped up late on the Week 4 injury report with an illness, he played and produced at his typical level (six catches for 86 yards and a touchdown). For his part, Mayer led the team with eight catches for 82 yards on a tied-for-career-best 10 targets.
He is still a major asset, even with Bowers back.
Klint Kubiak's plans for Michael Mayer are coming to fruition
Heading into last season, former Raiders' offensive coordinator Chip Kelly talked about having great use for Mayer in tandem with Bowers. Whatever the reasons, whether in or out of Kelly's control before he was fired, it didn't really happen. And it didn't happen with Luke Getsy, either.
As the head coach and offensive play caller, Kubiak naturally has more control over who plays, who doesn't and how they are used. In the absence of a proverbial WR1, he is rightly leaning into the Raiders' strength at tight end with the third-highest rate of "12" personnel in the NFL (Sumer Sports).
Bowers and Mayer didn't quite get to their highest combined catch total in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs, but the 168 yards that they combined for was their best in a game together, out of the 22 that they have suited up next to each other for.
Michael Mayer has become a sustainable fantasy asset in tandem with Brock Bowers
After the touchdown in Bowers' season debut, Mayer posted 16.2 full PPR points in Week 4 and joined Bowers as a top-seven fantasy tight end for the week.
But, as Pro Football Focus' Nathan Jahnke noted in highlighting Mayer as a fantasy waiver wire add for Week 5, Bowers playing the last two games has pushed the Raiders' TE2 off the radar of fantasy managers.
"While conventional wisdom suggests a team can’t have two fantasy-relevant tight ends, Las Vegas is a clear exception. Bowers leads all tight ends with a 92.2% route participation rate, while Mayer ranks eighth at 77.1%. Mayer’s route participation rate has barely changed from the first two weeks to the past two. His target rate is a little lower than those of some of the other tight ends, making it unlikely that Mayer finishes as a top-10 option at the position. Still, he can be a borderline fantasy starter over the second half of the year."
Jahnke noted the Raiders' upcoming schedule, with two of the toughest defenses against tight ends on the slate in two of the next three weeks (New England Patriots-Week 5; Los Angeles Rams-Week 7).
So, adding Mayer may require a bit of patience, and the potential weekly floor is low if he doesn't score a touchdown.
With bye weeks in play now, tight end beggars also probably can't be choosers, and the Raiders have one of the latest bye weeks in Week 13. As of this writing, Mayer was only rostered in 12% of ESPN leagues and 7% of Yahoo! leagues.
How much that'll change when the dust settles on Week 5 waivers is unclear. But now might be the time to make room for Mayer on a roster before everyone else notices Bowers hasn't crushed his fantasy value.
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