Our “Why the Slide” series parallels and grew out our “Why Undrafted” series. The latter was created a number of years ago in response to your questions about why certain well-known prospects went unselected in NFL drafts. For both series, I reach out to sources with NFL teams to find out why their organizations passed on drafting a given player, and/or, what were the reasons for other teams to pass on that prospect. The positive response to “Why Undrafted” and questions from readers about why prospects were drafted lower than the media expectations led us to create the parallel series “Why the Slide?”
Both series are back this year. Feel free to email me requests for Why the Slide? and Why Undrafted? at [email protected]. I can’t promise to get to all of them, but I will do my best and definitely will respond to the email.
During the 2022 season, there were a lot of projections of Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer being a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Utah’s Dalton Kincaid overtook Mayer during the spring as the consensus top-rated tight end, but Mayer was still commonly projected to be a first-round pick.
Multiple NFL team sources told WalterFootball.com slid in the 2023 NFL Draft because teams felt that Mayer had some skill-set limitations. While they liked that he was just a naturally good football player, they felt he lacked special speed or athleticism. They believed that Mayer could struggle to separate from a lot of NFL defenders due to his the absence of speed and twitchy route-running. That belief led to evaluators thinking Mayer would be more of a contested-catch tight end and not one who will consistently get open against man coverage. On top of that, team sources called Mayer’s blocking only average.
Mayer ended up being the third tight end selected in the 2023 NFL Draft, going after Kincaid and one pick after the Detroit Lions selected Iowa tight end Sam LaPorta. In speaking to sources at multiple teams, they had higher grades on Kincaid and LaPorta. The Las Vegas Raiders traded up for Mayer, and he should be their long-term starter at the position. That was a great landing spot for Mayer because he could become the starter during his rookie season. After trading away star Darren Waller, Mayer has two journeymen veterans competing with him in Austin Hooper and O.J. Howard. It would not be surprising if the veterans are starting at the beginning of 2023 while Mayer learns the new scheme and adjusts to the NFL. However over the course of his rookie season, and come 2024, Mayer should be the starter for Las Vegas.
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