The Raiders traded up to take Michael Mayer with the 35th-overall pick in the draft a year ago, but his rookie season didn’t necessarily live up to expectations.
There were a lot of reasons why the Raiders weren’t able to gain traction on offense last year, and a lot of those details had nothing to do with Mayer. This year, though, Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter says Mayer is already looking faster on the practice field.
“I asked him today, because his acceleration… I watched him the other day catch the ball… and he accelerated and created separation from a defensive back, a veteran,” Hondo said on the Last Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast. “I thought to myself, that veteran has gone against him a million times. There’s something different, and so I asked him today. ‘You look faster, is it just because you are healthy, or did you do some things to improve your speed?'”
Mayer said he worked on his acceleration in the offseason and one of the adjustments he made was the addition of a daily yoga regimen.
“I definitely worked on my speed,” Mayer said. “I actually figured out something I probably should’ve been doing since freshman year of college. I’ve been doing these stretches, like 30, 45 minutes of yoga every day. And I wake up feeling way better than I’ve ever felt. So, it’s helped me out tremendously, and I feel like it’s kind of made me faster out there, too. So, that’s a plus for sure.”
Asked about how he started the yoga routines, Mayer said it was two players in the tight end room last year that introduced him to the exercises…
“Really, the two tight ends last year, Cole Fotheringham, who’s still here, Jesper Horsted, who’s playing for the Saints now. Every Monday night during the season, we would go to yoga, and I kind of just took a couple things from there, and now, I just do it by myself in the backyard or in my house or whatever. Yeah, it’s awesome.”
With the addition of Brock Bowers, it’s no secret that the Raiders hope to utilize more formations with multiple tight ends, and there’s a good chance that Mayer will see his receiving numbers improve, despite the fact that he won’t be at the top of the team’s depth chart at tight end.
Additionally, look for Bowers to find himself all over the formation in Luke Getsy’s offense.
Tight end, wide receiver, and running back… Bowers will play them all.
x: @raidersbeat