Oakland Raiders: Who will start at DE opposite Clelin Ferrell?
By Nico Di Fede
Benson Mayowa
The former Raiders defensive end is coming off a year with a Pro Football Focus grade of 73.4, ranking him #29 among all edge rushers. There are 64 starting ends in the league so that puts him above the league average for a starter.
He has also improved a lot since his last stint with the Raiders where he was looked at as an adequate run defender who was best as a rotational player. He’s gone from two sacks in his two years as a Raiders to six with the Cowboys in 2016 and finally four last year with the Cardinals.
Those numbers are actually impressive when you take into account he only started six and four games respectively those seasons. To go along with four sacks, Mayowa had career highs in tackles for loss (11.0) and QB hits (11), again, in a season he only started four games.
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At the same time, he didn’t start all 16 games for a reason and in the case of the Cardinals, that wasn’t exactly due to the team having a lot of talent ahead of him. I have not personally seen him play since his time with the Raiders, so can only refer to others when it comes to his play since then.
In this film breakdown by Law Nation on Youtube, he shows examples of Mayowa’s great initial burst and relentlessness when getting after the QB in his 2016-17 season.
The film shows that he does not necessarily get to the QB with pass rush moves or elite athleticism and strength. Rather, Mayowa rushes the passer by knowing how to use his length and extend to keep the lineman off of him, on top of his high motor and relentlessness.
On the other hand, Mayowa was benched by the Cowboys in 2017 and according to Steven Mullenax of The Landry Hat, Mayowa disappeared through his first five games of the season, as he “…posted just six total tackles and has yet to drop a quarterback” during that span.
Besides that, Mayowa only started four games with the Cardinals last year as stated above, which leads me to believe he was probably inconsistent and more suited as a rotational player. That happens to be a role he did well in tying the Raiders leading sacker in Maurice Hurst who started all 16 games.