It’s official; Michael Mayer is back. The 2023 second round pick had been on the Non-Football Illness list the past four weeks and hadn’t played since Week three. And today the team officially activated him, making him available for their week 11 game Sunday in Miami.
Earlier this week head coach Antonio Pierce had expressed his excitement that ‘Big Mike” had returned to practice. On Friday, he added that Mayer was “trending up” in terms of the likelihood he would play this week.
“He’ss always been a part of the plan first and foremost,” Pierce continued. “But obviously with losing people through injuries or trades, I think there’s obviously an opportunity there for him. But really, I think just getting him back to par with our team, obviously new offensive coordinator there with Scott Turner and just getting back in the fold, you want to be smart with it. You want to be smart. But obviously Mike is a big part of our plans this year, this week and the future. So, the more we can get him involved, the better.”
Those plans were to deploy a lot of two-tight end sets alongside top pick rookie Brock Bowers. And while Bowers had put up record numbers this season, Mayer had just four catches for 21 yards before leaving the team for personal reasons.
The Raiders are hoping he’s back and ready to go for the latter half of the season, starting with the Dolphins on Sunday.
In a corresponding move, the Raiders waived WR Alex Bachman.