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Michael Mayer Injury History & Updates

Basic StatsMichael Mayer's Basic Stats

Michael Mayer
ADP: N/A
Bye: 10
Experience: 1
Age: 23.3
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 265
40 Time: 4.70

SPARQx (Rank): 107.70 (58%)
Burst Score (Rank): 115.90 (44%)
Agility Score (Rank): 11.70 (33%)
Catch Radius (Rank): 9.92 (36%)

Injury PredictorMichael Mayer's Injury Guide

High Risk

Chance of Injury in 2024

76.9%

% chance misses at least 2 quarters

Chance of Injury per Game

8.3%

1- 17√1-% Inj/Season

Projected Games Missed 2024

2.00

Durability

5.00

Ability to produce despire relatively minor injuries. 5 being most durable

Injury analysis powered by Draft Sharks Injury Guide, formerly SIP Logo

Injury History

Date League Injury Details
Oct 2, 2021 Non-NFL Inguinal Groin Strain Grade 2 Mayer returned after a 1-game absence -- and Notre Dame's bye week. This marked his only injury absence in college.
Dec 21, 2023 NFL Pedal Toe Sprain Mayer experienced a toe injury ahead of Week 15 and didn't play again for the remainder of the 2023 season.

Basic StatsMichael Mayer's Preseason Player Analysis

View TE Fantasy Rankings »

Bottom Line

Mayer is coming off a mediocre rookie season, finishing 35th among TEs in PPR points per game with middling advanced metrics.

He remains an intriguing long-term dynasty prospect, but his short-term fantasy value took a big hit when the Raiders selected TE Brock Bowers with the 13th overall pick of this year’s draft.

Mayer will likely need Bowers to get injured or prove not ready for a big rookie-year role in order to be a reliable fantasy factor in 2024.

What We Learned Last Year

  • Mayer tallied 27 catches for 304 yards and two TDs in 14 games as a rookie last year.
  • He missed the final three games of the season with a toe injury.
  • Mayer ranked 36th among TEs in total PPR points; 35th in PPR points per game.
  • He ran a route on just 36% of Raiders pass plays over the first five games. That spiked to 66% over his final nine games.
  • Mayer’s averages over those final nine outings:
    • 3.9 targets
    • 2.7 catches
    • 29.2 yards
    • 0.2 TDs
  • His scoring average across those nine games would have ranked 27th among TEs on the season.
  • Mayer had a low 6.4-yard average target depth (32nd among 45 qualifying TEs).
  • But his 6.0 yards after catch per reception ranked sixth.
  • Among 45 TEs with 30+ targets last year, Mayer ranked:
    • 12th in yards per target
    • 31st in yards per route
    • 25th in Pro Football Focus receiving grade
  • Here’s where he ranked in those categories among 22 rookie TEs with 30+ targets over the last five seasons:
    • 9th in yards per target
    • 15th in yards per route
    • 9th in PFF receiving grade
  • Mayer was the 35th overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. He set the Notre Dame TE record with 180 career receptions, despite playing just three seasons.

What to Expect in 2024

  • Mayer’s fantasy value took a big hit when the Raiders selected TE Brock Bowers with the 13th overall pick of this year’s draft. Bowers led Georgia in receiving in all three of his seasons and is one of the best TE prospects to arrive in recent memory.
  • The Raiders also return WRs Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers, who combined to account for 50.4% of the team’s targets last year.
  • Vegas does not have an established No. 3 WR (Tre Tucker is the favorite), so this offense could run a lot of 2-TE sets with Bowers and Mayer.
  • But it’s unlikely that both guys are reliable fantasy options. There have only been two instances of a team producing two top-12 fantasy TEs in the same season over the last five years, both by the Eagles’ duo of Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert. There were three other teams that produced a pair of top-20 TEs, but two of those included Taysom Hill. The other was last year’s Falcons, who had Kyle Pitts finish TE13 and Jonnu Smith TE17.
  • The Raiders released QB Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason and signed QB Gardner Minshew. He’ll compete with QB Aidan O’Connell for the starting job.
  • Minshew and O’Connell ranked 27th and 25th, respectively, among 33 qualifying QBs in Pro Football Focus passing grade last year.
  • Antonio Pierce returns as HC after taking over for the final nine games of last year. The Raiders ran it a bit more under Pierce than they did under previous HC Josh McDaniels.
    • Vegas went from a 61.2% pass rate in eight games under McDaniels to 57.3% pass under Pierce.
    • The Raiders registered a -1% Pass Rate Over Expected under McDaniels vs. -3% under Pierce.
  • After a deal with Kliff Kingsbury fell through, the Raiders hired Luke Getsy as their new OC in February.
    • Getsy spent the last two years as Bears OC, where Chicago ranked 28th and 20th in total yards and 23rd and 18th in points.
    • The Bears ranked 32nd in pass rate and Pass Rate Over Expected in 2022; 31st in pass rate and 27th in PROE last year.
    • Those offenses were predominantly quarterbacked by Justin Fields, which undoubtedly skewed the offense toward the run. We’re projecting a more balanced attack from Getsy in Vegas. It’s worth noting that he was the Packers’ QB coach and passing-game coordinator before his stint with the Bears.

Recent Injury Bites View All Shark Bites »

Brock Bowers, TE LVR

8:41am EDT 8/21/24

Brock Bowers Out With Sore Foot

Raiders TE Brock Bowers is currently sidelined with a sore foot, according to The Athletic's Vic Tafur. The rookie missed Saturday's preseason game and remained sidelined for Tuesday's practice. There's been no update from the team on the extent of Bowers' injury or his timeline for return.

View Full Story »

Raiders TE Michael Mayer (toe) is out for Sunday’s finale vs. the Broncos. He wraps up his rookie campaign with a 27-304-2 line across 14 games. It felt underwhelming, especially compared to fellow rookie TEs Sam LaPorta and Dalton Kincaid. But we’ve seen plenty of TEs struggle in year one before going on to have strong careers. Dynasty leaguers should see if they can buy low on Mayer this offseason. Austin Hooper will close out this season as Vegas’ lead TE.

View all Michael Mayer Shark Bites »

Raiders TE Michael Mayer (toe) is out for Week 17. That leaves Austin Hooper as the lead TE vs. the Colts’ 28th-ranked TE defense. You shouldn’t need to go there in season-long lineups, but Hooper is in play as a cheap DFS option.

View all Michael Mayer Shark Bites »

Raiders TE Michael Mayer (toe) remained sidelined on Wednesday. Fantasy owners shouldn't be counting on the rookie in Week 17 fantasy lineups. Austin Hooper stepped in as Vegas' lead TE last week, catching two of three targets for 13 yards.

View all Michael Mayer Shark Bites »

Raiders TE Michael Mayer (toe) is out for Monday's game vs. the Chiefs. The rookie didn't practice all week. His absence leaves Austin Hooper as Vegas' top TE. Hopefully you don't need to go there in fantasy lineups.

View all Michael Mayer Shark Bites »

How do Injuries impact your draft strategy?

For us, it's 1/17th of the equation. Hear us out.

The Draft War Room is the only live-sync draft tool that monitors 17 crucial in-draft indicators, including injury likelihood… and adapts to show you which players to pick throughout your draft.

See how we built the 17 indicators into our Draft War Room »
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