I understand Taylor Mays being upset that he had to wait until the second round before being drafted by the San Francisco 49ers but he needs to realize that his former USC head coach Pete Carroll can’t hurt him any more.
Mays needs to also realize that the Niners and Seahawks play twice a year every season, so he will have plenty of chances to show Carroll that he made a mistake of drafting Texas safety Earl Thomas instead of him.
We will be able to compare what Thomas is doing in Seattle and what Mays is doing in San Francisco game after game and season after season.
The NFL is the great proving ground.¬† If you show people that you can do the job,¬† everyone will see it and give you credit.¬† On the other hand, if you can’t do the job, then your own teammates will tell you to shut up.
“He is someone I’ve trusted for a long time, been very close to,” Mays said on Friday. “I put my future in his hands when he told me to come back to school. I just feel like we weren’t on the same page for what I needed to do to get drafted where I wanted to be drafted.”
He says Carroll lied to him when he asked him what he needed to improve on to prove to NFL scouts that he could succeed at the next level.
“[Pete] kept saying, ‘Taylor, you’ll be fine. You’re fine,'” Mays said. “Obviously that wasn’t the case.”
Carroll didn’t move him around in his defense.¬† He lined Mays up 15 yards off the line of scrimmage and simply had him play the deep middle pass coverage.¬† He also had to come up and make open field tackles.
I think Carroll is a drastically overrated defensive coach who didn’t take advantage of the talent he had at USC for years.
You will see 49ers the use Mays in many different ways.¬† They’ll blitz him off the corner.¬† They will have him come up and cover tight ends, running backs and wide receivers at times.
49ers head coach Mike Singletary will be able to teach him how to study and prepare for the game, so that he knows how the opposing offense will try to attack them.
Mays will get the chance to prove that he’s better than Thomas.¬† He’ll be able to show that he does have a nose for the football and making big plays.¬† He’ll be able to show that he can knock receivers out if they come in his area.
