REPORT: Raiders' Most Underrated Player Going into 2024 Season

The Las Vegas Raiders have several players who have been shadowed by offseason additions.

Dec 14, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer (87) celebrates after scoring a touchdown in the second quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports / Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

The Las Vegas Raiders will be fielding several new additions this coming season who fans and even some outside of Raider Nation are looking forward to seeing in the Silver and Black.

Because of this, some of the returners have fallen out of the spotlight, but by no means will their presence be any less valuable than the new-comers.

If anything, their impact should be more.

One of the Raiders being overlooked is second-year tight end Michael Mayer, a player who began to gain traction halfway through his rookie season. The attention at tight end has shifted since the arrival of rookie sensation Brock Bowers.

Sports Illustrated's Conor Orr recently deemed Mayer as the Raiders' "most underrated player" entering the 2024 season.

Here's what he had to say about Mayer:

"I would have been really interested to see Mayer in a different offense last year. I thought his run blocking was better than advertised and, really, was functionally good enough to get him more separation. On the plays when the Raiders made him commit initially as a blocker before transitioning to the receiving role, he looked solid. He’s absolutely a different kind of tight end than Brock Bowers, and I think a play-caller such as Luke Getsy should be able to strike the right chord and find some nuance there. Again, when Jimmy Garoppolo was playing, it felt like a lot of Mayer’s routes were pretty pedestrian and not functioning within the flow of an offense. He’s capable of being more than the five-yard choice route and rumble player, and had some nice catches last year even when split out wide. While it’s hard to isolate Mayer directly in this stat, the Raiders were the second-best team in the NFL last year when running outside the tight end spot when on the left side. There are a lot of factors there, depending on which side, who is getting help and what formation the Raiders were in, but clearly Mayer was a big part of it."

Mayer finished his rookie campaign with 304 yards and two touchdowns on 27 receptions in 14 games. He made 12 starts.

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