Oakland Raiders Should Give Taylor Mays Another Try

Safety Taylor Mays was a beast coming out of USC, running a 4.4 40 while standing 6’3″ and weighing 235 pounds. And with that height, weight, and speed, he made the biggest of collisions in college. He had numerous knockout which helped his hype train along.

But after getting drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round, Mays has had a rough go of it, bouncing around the NFL, unable to become a core player. The 49ers traded him to the Cincinnati Bengals after just one year and he lasted four years as a backup there.

Then he was cut by the Minnesota Vikings, the Detroit Lions, and the Oakland Raiders in 2015. The Raiders brought him back for another go of it and he played well, solving their problem of covering tight ends. I was actually looking forward to him coming back to the Raiders this year.

But he would go on to violate the NFL’s policy on substances of abuse, earning him a four-game suspension. Despite that, the Bengals, who have a lot of players that get in trouble, signed him. But without so much as one training camp practice, Mays was just cut by the Bengals.

The Raiders’ coaching staff seems to have gotten through to him the most since he’s been in the NFL. Defensive coordinator Ken Norton coached him at USC and knows a lot about him. Perhaps the Raiders should give this big hitter an absolute of freak an athlete another chance.

The Raiders drafted Karl Joseph in the first round this year to play strong safety and Reggie Nelson was brought over to play free safety. However, he could easily put on 5-10 pounds and move to inside linebacker. Mays as he has played the position in the nickel throughout his career.

He would be among the most athletic and hardest hitting inside linebackers in the NFL. If he can learn the position inside and out, he can be special so the Raiders should jgive him a try there. They can always cut him but we’ll have to see if they can get past the suspension first.