Sure wish we would have kept him over Quinn. He made mistakes, all GM’s do, but the two moves kept him from being considered a legend in Detroit. Drafting Ebron over Aaron Donald and allowing Suh’s contract to get so out of control that we couldn’t franchise him.
What could have been. Hope he gets another shot, I think he deserves it.
He was a victim of the old rookie pay scale. Trying to balance Calvin Stafford and Suh was near impossible and Lewand did a bad job by kicking the can down the road with restructures I think. (I’m no expert, you would know way better than me, but that’s the impression I got)
He made bad decisions, but no worse than other GM’s. He inherited an 0-16 team and had us in the playoffs in 3 years. Not only was it one of the worse rosters ever, it was one of the worse salary cap situations (because of Millen’s draft picks and bungled UFA signings). If that defense that we had in 2014 was here in 2015, he’d have never been fired.
I’ll always remember the Roy Williams trade. We made out great with draft choices that we subsequently bungled. The point is though he got a learning experience and the next team that hires him is likely to be the beneficiary of the mistakes that he left here. If he didn’t learn anything it will be obvious soon enough but I doubt that that will be the case.
He was also a victim of learning on the job. There’s a bunch of things he’d do differently if he could do them over. He’s been humble enough over the years to admit it.
Whoever gets him is getting a guy that has seen just about all there is to see in the NFL. From playing to managing. From 0-16 to a Superbowl appearance.
I wanted LaVonte David so badly with that pick. Was more of a biased fanboy desire rather than anything based off of scouting but I was pounding the table big time on that one.
I don’t disagree. But please let this sink in … Mayhew was a huge part of the Millen debacle. He was Millens ‘right hand man’ for the entire poop-show era. So the team he inherited, was essentially built by him!
I’ve heard his attachment to Millen before and dismiss it. The only thing we know with 100% certainty is Millen had final say. Anything related to Mayhew’s involvement is a guess. In 2005, their draft board said to draft Ware, but Millen was talked into Mike Williams because someone convinced him what they could do in the red zone with their receivers. Was that Mayhew’s fault?
Millen’s record is Millen’s record. If you throw out Mayhew’s first season after the historic 0-16 season, he is 45-51 with 2 playoff appearances (with a playoff game stolen by the refs), all while managing a flawed rookie scale and absorbing Millen’s failed draft picks and UFA’s into the salary cap.
I didn’t have an issue with Mayhew being fired, he made many mistakes, I just wish we would have hired someone competent. At the same time, if you consider what Mayhew accomplished while here, he deserves a second chance.
I’ll echo some of the salient points made by others here, and add a couple of my own.
Mayhew will forever be linked with Millen here. Right or wrong, it’s guilty by association.
Mayhew, for being a db himself, was exceedingly poor at drafting them.
Mayhew was, legitimately, a victim of the rookie payscale under the old CBA. Put Suh and Stafford on today’s deals, and that could have been a very special team with more free agent money. And Suh? He would have easily been franchise tagged twice off a rookie deal.
I always knew Mayhew would target at least one, “Who?” pick from south central BFE Community College in the mid rounds instead of targeting a high floor contributor. Irritated the ever living bejesus out of me.
Mayhew was atrocious at offensive line. It’s one thing I actually appreciated about Quinn.
Mayhew wasn’t our worst GM, but I would never want him back either.
I’d take Mayhew over the 5 reported finalists (but I want to try something different and hire a GM with experience), but that would mean our highly intelligent President would have to admit he made a mistake and I don’t ever see him admitting to a mistake.