Passing Game

Something that was very noticeable when watching Mayo on tape was how infrequently he dropped into coverage – while there there is a certain randomness to this over small sample sizes, it soon becomes clear that the Panthers were doing their upmost to avoid having him on the field during obvious passing downs, often preferring to having Thompson or even Colin Jones on the field. This was most noticeable on third downs and when the Panthers played man coverage – Mayo wasn’t asked to cover in man coverage at all during the two games where he saw extensive playing time. What is more, on the few occasions when Mayo was asked to drop into coverage it was exclusively into shallow inside zone and did not see a single target, with the following three plays being the closest he came to being asked to contribute as a coverage player:

 

From this, it is almost impossible to judge Mayo’s coverage ability effectively, but the fact that the Panthers were so determined to keep him off the field in passing situations suggests that they are far from confident in his coverage ability. If Mayo does see the field on passing downs in Davis’ absence over the first quarter of the season, then he will need to show that he can handle such responsibilities if he is to secure a significant role either in Carolina or elsewhere.

If he can do this, then he has a real chance of securing a starting role somewhere in 2019, but based on how the Panthers treated him in 2017 a more reasonable expectation is that the Panthers will once again look to take him off on passing downs in favor of either one of the young linebackers behind him – Jermaine Carter has been getting reps with the first team thus far in training camp – or even an additional safety, and that the eventual replacement for Thomas Davis is more likely to come from somewhere else.

Vincent Richardson on Twitter
Vincent Richardson
Managing Editor at Riot Report
Fan of zone coverage, knee bend and running backs running routes. Twitter: @vrichardson444