Mays has always been all measurements. For all his measurements, he was never that great of a college player. This sounds like a Gholston 2.0 situation, although to Vern's credit, he was able to fool a lot of people and work his way into the first round. Mays wasn't so lucky. -X-
"SF put that dude out there like he's an old couch on craigslist." Best twitter comment about Mays to date.
Mays has a great chance to be to safeties was Gholston was to DEs/OLBs. Off the charts measurables effectively negated by terminally flawed intangibles. The messed up thing about Gholston was that he was a reasonably bright and hard working kid but, like Mays, a full on retard when it came to football IQ and on the field instincts. To make matters worse for Mays, his hips are practically fused they're so tight which makes his fantastic straight line acceleration and speed as useless on the field as a top fuel dragster is on a twisty road course. His flexibility problems could be fixed but that would take very specific, intense training that is not typically associated with NFL conditioning regimes. As far as developing his brain and football instincts are concerned, who the hell knows? Like it was with Gholston, it is easy to get excited over his natural gifts and measurables but the fact that SF appears ready to cut bait with him at such an early stage in his pro career is a huge red flag suggesting he might be a complete waste of time as a development project which, at this point, is the very best that can be said of him. For Mays' sake, I'm hoping the bizarre league wide email sent out by the SF FO was an attempt at getting through to him via psych warfare but that could be a totally implausible reach on my part. If he gets waived/cut and we can get him cheap, I'd take a chance with the understanding that any future success with him would most likely be a long shot despite his otherwise great athleticism and size.
Mays best case scenario for becoming a successful safety is to end up in Seattle with old coach Pete Carroll. Carroll knows exactly what he brings to the table and can use him exactly as he did at USC where he was an All-American. You can be a good safety in the NFL without great ball or cover skills (Bernard Pollard, Roy Williams way back when, etc) and Carroll's defense still needs to deep centerfielder safety who can cover ground and knock people out. Mays can play the SS spot, and Earl Thomas can man the FS spot and be the true ballhawking force. Pairing Mays with a ballhawk for his career would make a ton of sense and mask his weakness, while Mays speed and tackling ability will mask Thomas' weakness. Either way he'd be an upgrade over less impressive workout warrior Kam Chancellor. His confidence would definitely get a few bumps playing back under Carroll.
thank you to all 3 of you. that was funny and i needed a little laughter on the board today. i dont like him right off the bat because he is from usc. beyond that as others have said i have to question his coverage and tackling in a non head hunting situation. i would pass on him.
Isn't he a decent special teamer ( I recall him making a sick play for a td last year) ?Also you put him in digs role which is go kill the QB
On a defense with the proper scheme and good talent around him, why not take a risk for a late pick? Potential high reward.
