When the Las Vegas Raiders take the ground against the Miami Dolphins In Week 11, they are expected to have tight end Michael Mayer on the field after the former second-round pick was away from the team for an extended period of time.

Mayer played in the Raiders’ first three games of the 2024 season, but left the team in week 4 due to a personal matter. Mayer hasn’t appeared in a game since, but the Notre Dame product returned to the team during the bye week and was able to practice in full three times during the week.

While he did draw a questionable labelMayer should get dressed after being activated off the list of non-football related illnesses SATURDAY. Here’s what we know about Mayer’s absence from the team as he prepares to return to the field.

Michael Mayer’s absence explained

There was speculation that Mayer’s absence was due to his frustration with a diminished role after the addition of Brock Bowers, but that was not the case.

According to Your Boy Q on the Locked Raiders PodcastMayer’s family contacted the Raiders following his absence to let the team know that the personal issue was “a situation that has happened before in his life.”

Mayer briefly addressed his absence during the week, but did not go into detail. He did, however, have a very important message to share and made it clear that he was willing and able to do whatever the team asked of him.

“The most important rule is that football is not bigger than life. That is not the case and has never been the case,” Mayer said, according to Levi Edwards of Raiders.com. “I just needed to figure some things out. That’s what I did and I’m back on my feet. I feel good. I sleep well. I’m doing everything I need to do to get back in shape. “I’m ready to succeed and help the team. Whatever they ask me to do over the next eight, nine, 10, 11 weeks, (I) will do it for them. “

“It was good to see big Mike again,” head coach Antonio Pierce said, according to Vegas Sports today. “He looked good, he was a little tanned, so I don’t know where he was but he was hanging out in a good place. But he looked good, he was in good shape, he’s been here all this week off, training and getting back into shape for football.

Is Michael Mayer playing this week?

There were some doubts about whether Mayer would be able to play this week after such a long absence, but Pierce suggested Mayer had plenty of time to prepare after returning during the bye week and participating in a full week of training this week.

“It’s a good thing we had a bye week,” Pierce added with a smile. “It’s a good ramp-up period (for Mayer).”

The final hurdle for Mayer was being removed from the NFI list, which happened Saturday. This paves the way for him to return, although he remains questionable on the team’s injury report, so it’s not yet a 100% guarantee. We will know for sure when the inactives will be released before kick-off.

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