With The First Pick
Fansided

Oakland Raiders Need to Bring Back Taylor Mays

By Carl Cockerham

Oct 25, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders strong safety Taylor Mays (27) looks on from the bench during the fourth quarter against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 25, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders strong safety Taylor Mays (27) looks on from the bench during the fourth quarter against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 24, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers tight end Ladarius Green (89) tries to catch the ball against Oakland Raiders strong safety Taylor Mays (27) during the fourth quarter at O.co Coliseum. The Oakland Raiders defeated the San Diego Chargers 23-20. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 24, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers tight end Ladarius Green (89) tries to catch the ball against Oakland Raiders strong safety Taylor Mays (27) during the fourth quarter at O.co Coliseum. The Oakland Raiders defeated the San Diego Chargers 23-20. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

Tight Ends

Raiders fans should remember that TEs killed the Raiders early in the season last year. Someone outsmarted themselves this offseason because their killing them now. Tight ends these days are freak athletes with basketball backgrounds.

They’re way to fast and athletic for linebackers to cover them and way to big for the secondary. But at 6’3″, 235 pounds with long arms, Mays is a freak athlete himself. He ran a 4.24 40-yard dash that was mysteriously changed to 4.43 at the combine.

He also had a 41-inch vertical leap so he is equipped to cover any tight end out there. It’s like a 5’10” CB covering a receiver—they should only go up to about 6’2″. You put a 5’10”, 190-pound CB on a 6’5″, 220 receiver and you have problems.

That’s why D.J. Hayden didn’t work out as an outside CB and S Karl Joseph struggles with tight ends. Mays is 6’3″, with that vertical and the tallest TEs are 6’7″, so Mays shut them down last year. A 6’7″, TE has almost a foot on Joseph so that’s not a good matchup.

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