Raiders rookie heeds lesson from Maxx Crosby: ‘I got embarrassed’

Michael Mayer’s welcome to the NFL moment did not go well. Not in real time or retrospectively.

Three weeks later, the memory of Raiders star edge rusher Maxx Crosby rocking his world play after play during his first fully-padded NFL practice still resonates.

“I got embarrassed,” the Raiders rookie tight end said.

In Mayer’s defense, few rookies would fare well dealing one-on-one with the Raiders’ resident madman and one of the league’s most dominant pass rushers.

And clearly, the Raiders had a little bit of baptism by fire in mind by essentially sicking Crosby and his nonstop motor on their second-round pick from Notre Dame.

“His first day in pads in the National Football League, I mean, there’s a baptism sometimes that happens,” coach Josh McDaniels said.

Nothing that happened that day was by accident. Mayer has a chance to be a productive tight end by simply catching the ball, but he has Pro Bowl potential if he also can be a dominant blocker.

Unlike at Notre Dame, where he could use his 6-foot-4-inch, 250-pound body to maul most defenders, Mayer is quickly finding out that size and strength only go so far at the NFL level.

“That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve noticed coming from college to the NFL now,” Mayer said. “The blocking technique you’ve got to have.”

The Raiders understand what a well-rounded Mayer can mean to their offense. But to get him there, they have to develop his blocking skills. Part of that means drilling home the message that fundamentals are every bit as important as brawn when it comes to blocking in the NFL.

And, in Crosby, they have the perfect example to prove that point.

It took one play for Mayer to understand he wasn’t quite ready.

“My technique was all over the place,” he said.

Crosby made him pay by continually throwing him around like a rag doll. It wasn’t personal. It was an indoctrination.

“We all learn hard lessons in this league,” McDaniels said. “But the hard ones are sometimes the best ones.”

With Mayer’s eyes now wide open to the speed, talent level and ferociousness of the NFL — and the need to sharpen his technique to deal with it — he’s thrown himself into becoming a better blocker.

Often times while lining up directly in front of Crosby.

“I know it’s going to help me this season and in the long run,” Mayer said.

Catching the ball always will be Mayer’s calling card, and the 180 catches for 2,099 yards and 18 touchdowns he produced at Notre Dame are expected to translate to the NFL. But he can already tell there also is a learning curve for that.

Whereas offensive plays at Notre Dame were written with one or two words, Mayer said, there is a lot more verbiage in plays drawn up by McDaniels. Absorbing and learning the actual play is hard enough, but throw in the checks and alerts and reloads and it gets intricate really fast.

“It’s not easy, I can say that straight up,” Mayer said.

So he throws himself into the playbook with the goal of mastering it.

“You’re not going to play if you don’t have it down,” Mayer said. “I’m in the process of that right now. I’m gonna get it down, I can tell you that.”

Even if it means taking a few more lessons from Crosby.

“I hope there’s an appreciation on his end; there is on mine for sure,” Mayer said. “He’s making me better every single day I’m out there.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.