Las Vegas Raiders TE Michael Mayer from OTAs

The Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer spoke from the Silver and Black NFL OTAs, and we have it all for you.

NFL Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

HENDERSON, Nev.—Under the influential leadership of Coach Antonio Pierce, the Las Vegas Raiders are riding a wave of optimism, firmly positioned in the heart of NFL OTAs.

Tight end Michael Mayer spoke after a recent OTA practice, and we have it for you.

You can watch the entire press conference below, or if you prefer, you can listen by clicking right here.

Tight End Michael Mayer

Q: How's your foot doing? Mayer: "Oh yeah. I'm 100% now, I feel great. I've got no soreness; I've got no residual effects from anything that happened. So, good offseason of rehab; I was kind of back and forth here and home, and I feel great. I feel best I felt, I'm sitting at 255 right now. Probably the fastest I've been, faster than last year I'll tell you that. So, I'm feeling good."

Q: Was it scary to go through that? Mayer: "It wasn't fun. Yeah, it wasn't fun. And I didn't want to miss the last three games of season, either. So, that was a bummer. But I mean, it is what it is, that's life. I recovered well, I rehabbed well, and I feel great."

Q: A 12-offense is one of the most difficult to defend. When you look at what you and Brock Bowers can potentially be, are you able to appreciate what this offense can be? Mayer: "Yeah, 100%. I think there's a little bit of that to where I'm still learning this offense, so I don't know exactly how it's going to fit into the offense. But we're putting a lot of things in right now, we're running a lot of stuff out there. Brock has been great so far, he's been a great dude, eager to learn. So, it's been great. We have a great tight end room. We have a lot of fun tight ends, and we have a great tight end coach, too."

Q: What was your knee jerk reaction when you're watching the draft and they say, "with their first round pick the Raiders select a tight end, Brock Bowers"? Mayer: "It is what it is. I mean, they drafted me last year, so I've just got to come here, keep my head down, keep working hard, to try to win as many games as possible, man. I mean, that's totally out of my control. So, I'm here to play ball." Q: How soon did you flip that page? Not saying that you were negative about it, but that it becomes a positive? Mayer: "Oh, it's already in the past. Yeah, it's already way behind me."

Q: Respect means a lot to you, what did it mean to you that they picked up the phone and said, "Listen, you're still key to our thoughts, we just think this makes everybody better." Because you were technically still rookie, what did that mean to get that respect from them? Mayer: "Yeah, I mean it was a whole new coaching staff coming in too, so that was huge for me. I was just kind of getting to know them, getting to learn the offense, getting to know their personalities, things like that and then that happened. So, it was good. It was good to hear from them."

Q: How much of a curve has it been to learn this offense so far? Mayer: "It's easier than last year. It's been great. It's been great. [Luke] Getsy has been great; my tight ends coach [Luke] Steckel has been great. [Antonio] AP [Pierce] has been great with the offense and slowly but surely we're getting there."

Q: What's made it easier? Mayer: "I'd say it's a little bit more simple. A little bit more simple, a little bit easier to understand. But I mean, there's tons of offenses in the NFL, that's kind of how it is. So, I'm very happy with the way this offense is going so far and what we're going to be able to do on the offensive side."

Q: What do you like about the way Luke Getsy uses tight ends in this offense? Mayer: "Yeah, Cole Kmet from Notre Dame for the Chicago Bears, so I'm pretty good buddies with him so I talked to him, and he said he loves Getsy. He loves Getsy and he loves Steck [Luke Steckel], my tight ends coach. And obviously, he just got a big-time contract, and he's gotten a ton of balls his way. So, from everything I've seen, and everything I've heard and learned, Getsy's offense is very good for tight ends. It's very good for offenses and scoring points. So, we're excited about that."

Q: What's the biggest area of improvement you've tried to make this offseason on your game? Mayer: "I'd say my speed, number one. Number two, I'd say my blocking. I'd say about halfway through the season last year, my blocking really turned on, but those first seven-eight games, I really didn't know what the heck I was even doing out there. So, I've definitely gotten better at that, there's no doubt about that. And then I feel like through the rehab process, strengthening my hips, strengthening my hammies, everything, I've been able to sort of become faster, a little bit more twitchy, things like that." Q: Still early in the process, but what does the quarterback room look like, the guys that are competing for the job? Mayer: "Yeah, everybody's competing right now. Everybody looks great. Gardner [Minshew] has been throwing me balls, Aidan [O'Connell], obviously. They both look good, man. It's going to be a good competition, I'm really excited for both of them, really happy for both of them."

Q: The offseason between the rookie and second year, you realize this is your job now there's no more trying to impress anybody for the draft, it's really just getting ready and getting prepared. Mayer: "Just play ball."

Q: Did you kind of sense that this this offseason? How it was all about that now? Mayer: "Yeah, my mentality, my attitude this year - nothing wrong with last year, but it's just different this year, it's different. I'm way happier, I'm way more positive. I love to be out here on this field. I love to play football, man. I mean it's what I do, it's my job like you said. So, I've definitely flipped the script a little bit. Last year maybe there were some days I didn't want to come in or something was going on, like I flipped the script. It's time to dig down and play some ball, win some ball games and do what I need to do for this team. Rookie year is over, that's way in the past. I've already reflected on it, I've already put it behind me. I don't even think about it anymore."

Q: How much of flipping that script has to do with the head coach and the energy he brings? Mayer: "I don't know, could have something to do with it, yeah."

Q: What are some of the big advantages of having two real talented young tight ends? Mayer: "How are you going to stop them? Brock [Bowers] is a lot of speed. Like I said, I've gotten a little bit faster, and I think there's a ton of things number one in the run game that Brock will be able to help me out with, blocking, but then number two, who's going to guard both of us. If you put it backer, put a small safety here, like I'm a big body, Brock is a big body, so it's going to be a lot of fun."

Q: Do you think both of you guys will be moved around the offense? Mayer: "100%."

Q: Watching you at Notre Dame, you we're very gregarious, and then last year at times, it just didn't look. Mayer: "I don't even know what that means.

Q: You were constantly laughing, it was like you were at a party on the field. Last year at times it looked like football wasn't as fun, not because you were bad attitude, just the struggles of a rookie. Now you seem like the Notre Dame Michael now. Are you back to that? Mayer: "100%. Whatever I went through last year, it was a long year, there's no doubt about it, but like I told you guys before I reflected on it, I put it behind me and I'm done thinking about it, man. I'm looking forward to year two. I mean, that's the end of it really. I mean, it is what it is. Would I have wanted to have more touchdowns, would I have wanted to win more games? Of course, but reflect on it, do what you need to do and then look ahead. So, it is what it is."

Q:You made a really nice catch in the end zone today over the middle. It looked like you were pretty excited about it too. I mean it's just a practice, but is that part of that just like having fun again? Mayer: "Having fun with your teammates, having fun on the practice field. Getting excited when you score touchdowns, like you're allowed to do that at practice. You're allowed to be happy for your teammates, you're allowed to celebrate. It doesn't have to be, 'Alright you scored, next play.' Let's take it easy here, let's have fun. This is football. We're doing this for our jobs. If we score a touchdown, that's a big deal. We like touchdowns, so let's celebrate and have fun."

Q: Like halfway through last season is when you felt like it clicked for you as a blocker. What did you pick up on that changed? Mayer: "I was working on some drills number one, but I think number two it's more of understanding the offense too. I remember a quote from Gronk [Rob Gronkowski] like he's kind of got that offense midway through the season. I mean, I totally fully understood that offense probably by game 8. So, it was it was pretty complicated. It was a hard year, but I feel like my coach last year, Coach [Jerry] Schuplinski, we did a really good job of some sort of drill work in terms of blocking, keeping my feet under, not having my head over my feet, striking, things like that. The process throughout that just I got better throughout it."

Q: You talked about kind of moving on and kind of processing. Was that like an active processing? Did you actually like set aside time to sit down and be like, what happened? How am I going to move on? Was that a thing that you worked on? Mayer: "Maybe. Yeah, it was."

Q: Was that advice you got from somebody or is it just something you decided you wanted to do? Mayer: "It's something I've sort of been doing my whole life I'd say. I wouldn't really call it sitting down and meditating or anything but just sort of reflecting. What did I do? What could I have done better? What was out of my hands? What was out of my circumstance? Things like that."

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