Second-year tight end Michael Mayer returned to the Raiders this week with an upbeat outlook after being away from the team for personal reasons.
Mayer last played in Week 3 and has been on the reserve/non-football illness list since Oct. 11, missing seven games.
“The No. 1 important rule is that football’s not bigger than life. It isn’t and it never has been, at least for me. I just needed to figure some things out. That’s what I did and I’m on my feet again,” Mayer said Wednesday ahead of the Raiders’ Week 11 road game against the Dolphins. “I feel great. I’m sleeping well, I’m doing all the things that I need to be doing to set myself up for success and help the team to. Whatever they ask me to do these next eight, nine, 10 weeks left, I’ma do it for ’em.”
Mayer, a second-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, did not provide details on what caused him to be away from the team other than describing it as a personal matter.
He played in the team’s first three games, tallying four catches for 21 yards, before being inactive for the Weeks 4 and 5 contests.
He landed on reserve/non-football illness list before a Week 6 loss to the Steelers.
Mayer said he’s doing “great” and thanked the organization and those around him for being there for him while he needed time away.
The former Notre Dame star spent several weeks with family and friends in Cincinnati, per The Athletic, before returning to work out in Las Vegas during the team’s Week 10 bye week.
“They’ve been with me through the whole thing. I really appreciate that. I couldn’t ask for a better organization, a better support system, a better all that stuff,” Mayer said. “It was a personal matter, me and my family handled it behind closed doors, but I’m so thankful for this organization and I’m so thankful for the support they’ve shown me. I felt really happy and good out there today. I was happy to be back out there with (Brock Bowers), all the tight end boys and the whole offense. It’s been great.”
Mayer returns to a 2-7 team that has fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and traded star receiver Davante Adams to the Jets.
He acknowledged it has been “tough” to watch the losses pile up while he spent time with his family.
In Mayer’s absence, Bowers — a prized rookie out of Georgia — has emerged as one of the sports’ premier tight ends.
“You want to be out there helping your team, there’s no doubt about it,” Mayer said. “Win, lose or draw, you want to be out there helping your team. That wasn’t very fun at all.”
The Raiders now have a 21-day window to activate Mayer and he has been listed a full participant in practice each of the last two days.
His status for Sunday’s game remains uncertain.
“Excited, man. It was good to see big Mike, man” Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said Wednesday. “He looked good. He had a little tan. I don’t know where he was at, but he was hanging somewhere good. He looked good, he was in shape.
“He stayed out here this entire bye week working out, getting himself back into football shape and around the team, around the building. And then, obviously, when we got together yesterday, man, everybody was excited, you heard a lot of knocking, business as usual. That’s what Mike’s about, business.”