Raiders general manager Mayock discusses last season, looks ahead
Q&A with general manager who looks back, ahead at Senior Bowl
MOBILE, Ala. — Raiders general manager Mike Mayock is in Mobile this week for the Senior Bowl, and with the NFL scouting combine canceled and the offseason still up in the air, this becomes a critically important part of the Raiders’ draft process.
Now in his third season, Mayock took time on Tuesday to reflect on last season and what might be ahead for the Raiders in a question and answer session with the Review-journal’s Vincent Bonsignore.
VB: The quarterback market this offseason is shaping up as one of the craziest in years, with some big names potentially getting traded. Is it a market you guys might potentially dabble in?
Mayock: I think every year my answer will be the same, regardless of how many players are out there at any position, and that is you have to do your due diligence. I think Jon (Gruden)
and I come from the same school on that. You want to know, at any position, which players might be available via trade. Just like you do in free agency. … And you’re always trying to upgrade. I just think it’s incumbent upon every organization to do that at every position.
VB: That said, Derek Carr was a top 10 quarterback overseeing a top 10 NFL offense. He has two years left on his contract, none of which is guaranteed. Have there been any discussions about extending Carr’s contract?
Mayock: First of all, I think the most important point is that Derek did have an exceptional year. I think he’s gotten better each year with
Jon, which is kind of exciting to us internally. As far as any kind of contract conversation, we deal with that directly with the players only.
VB: Is extending Derek something you are open to?
Mayock: I think we’re always interested in keeping good players for as long as we can.
VB: COVID-19 really did a number last year on the draft and free agency process. The same might be true this year. Any takeaways from last year that you can apply this year?
Mayock: My biggest concern, in all of this, is not just us getting out on the road doing jobs, it’s also the lack of development once you draft the kids if there is no offseason. I thought that was a bigger part of it last year.
If there is one takeaway that I personally had off our draft last year, it was that on one hand, we were able to get all seven of our draft picks within the first four rounds, which I think was great for a COVID-19 year. On the other hand, we had a couple of guys making position changes, and I thought we might have some offseason stuff but that never happened.
So basically, I think the guys that were trying to play different positions were really hamstrung. It was a hard enough year to come in at your own position, and I’m not complaining because the whole league was dealing with it. But if I had to smack myself over my head, that would have been my point.
It’s difficult to say you’re going to draft Lynn Bowden in the third round and take a quarterback/ slot back and make him a running back. I think he’s got the talent and skill-set and all those things, but in a COVID-19 year to learn protections and everything else, it’s really a difficult task.
And to a lesser degree, the same is true of Amik Robertson, who was always an outside corner in college. So when you come inside in our defense and play nickel, it’s a completely different world. Not just the angles and the way you’re looking at an offense but also you’ve got to combat a lot of big people because you have run fits inside. Again, I know Amik can do it, but unfortunately it just wasn’t going to happen last year.
VB: You lost three games over your last seven games after the offense gave the defense the lead with under two minutes to play. Is it an oversimplification to say that, but for a better defense, the Raiders’ season would have ended up much differently?
Mayock: It’s probably fair. We went into the season saying we thought we could be a top 10 offense and if we could play middle of the road defense we’d be a playoff team. But we did not play middle of the road defense. That’s just being honest.
VB: Cory Littleton’s play improved late in the season, but can you put a finger on what caused his struggles the rest of the season?
Mayock: I think he’s a guy that can run to the football, can cover, and he was a tackling machine in L.A. We asked him to do some things, some nuanced things, that he really wasn’t used to. And I think when players start to think a lot, sometimes they slow down. That’s not a shot at him or our system, it’s just that he came into a new system and we were asking him to do some things differently than he’d done them the last four years.
I think as he played more consistently every week, without injuries, and had more practice time, he played better. He started coming downhill, taking on blockers. And that’s not who he’s ever going to be, a downhill thumper. That’s not him. But, man, he’s so athletic. We think there’s a lot more there that we’re going to get.
VB: Nelson Agholor had a breakout year. But his contract us up. Is he a priority to bring back?
Mayock: We love Nelly, he’s got an amazing work ethic and we’d love to have him back.
VB: What is your assessment of the rookie season of Henry Ruggs?
Mayock: I thought Henry was exactly what I thought he’d be. He did make a difference for our offense. He did flash. He still has a long way to go. And we knew that when we drafted him.
I think the specific areas we’d like to see improvement in are route running, especially getting in and out of those breaks where you feel his speed. You have to feel the 4.2 or it doesn’t matter what you ran. He’s got to do a great job of becoming more and more of a student and learning how to get in and out of breaks and run routes so that you feel his speed.
The second thing is he’s got to get in the weight room. He’s got to get on nutrition, and he needs to get stronger. He’s got to be able to get off press and run through getting re-directed. He’s got to be more physical at the point of the ball.
VB: Trent Brown has played 16 games in two seasons. He’s under contract for two more years, but none of it is guaranteed. Is he still in the plans?
Mayock: He’s under contract and when he’s healthy he’s dominant. And you’ve got to juxtapose that with his inability to play, week to week, over a two-year period. We’re excited about the player, but we’ve got to get a more consistent player. And obviously, we’re talking about everything right now. We think he’s the best right tackle in the league when healthy.