Mike Mayock recently talked about his first year as the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders and what he learned in his first year at the helm.
Mayock joined the Raiders front office last year and even though he had previously been known as a master evaluator for NFL Media, it wasn’t certain whether he was going to be able to have a smooth transition from one position to the other. One year later, it’s fair to say that he fared well as he oversaw an infusion of talent in last year’s draft. He pulled it again this past free agency when he was successfully able to lure some of the most coveted players to the team without overspending.
Raiders GM Mike Mayock spoke up about the 2020 NFL Draft
Ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft, Mayock talked to the media about what he learned last year and the approach he takes when it comes to trades. In regard to how he will tackle the process, he said that having to be patient, the power of patience.” He later gave an example, “we talked about moving up a couple different times throughout the first two or three rounds. We talked it through, we decided not to do it. We got in the second round, we traded back twice and still got the one player we wanted, Trayvon Mullen. It gave us some extra picks on the third day. We traded back two times again in the fourth round. Then traded up in the fifth to come get Hunter Renfrow.”
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Mayock also shared a bit of what we might see on draft night, “ultimately, we let the draft come to us a little bit. Through that process, we generated two or three extra picks that turned into pretty good football players. Obviously you want to be aggressive, you want to go after the players you want.”
The Raiders had success last year with Mayock leading their war room and based on what he talked about, it seems like he’s nailed the process. This year will be a bit different because of the draft’s digital format, but he and the team as a whole are in the same wavelength, “I think you either embrace it and say this is pretty freaking cool, we’re really just going to watch film. and trust who we are as evaluators and trust in who we want in our building.”
Entering year two of his tenure with the Raiders, Mayock is showing he’s the right man to lead their front office. Whether he has the same level of success he did last year remains to be seen. If he doesn’t, it won’t be because he’s ill prepared.
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