Just read this tonight. This explains an awful lot about the why Mayes was traded. Attitude was completely wrong for this team....
-scott
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Mayes confident he will be a starter
By D. Orlando Ledbetter
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: Aug. 26, 1999
Green Bay -- Derrick Mayes has no qualms about it. He views the open starting wide receiver position alongside Antonio Freeman as his
very own.
While Mayes ran with the first-string offense this week with Freeman's return to practice, the Green Bay Packers coaching staff repeatedly
has warned not to read too much into that situation.
It's the coaches' view that Mayes still is competing mainly with Bill Schroeder and Corey Bradford to become a starter.
"I don't buy into that whole thing right now that there's a position to be filled, a spot to win," Mayes said Thursday between practices. "I've
been preparing for this for too long."
Mayes, who is entering his fourth season, basically has kept a low-profile through all of the minicamps and training camp. The chance to start
came when Robert Brooks retired early in camp.
"Since it's all me, me, me in what I do, then shoot, I've got the freedom to pursue it however I want to pursue it because it is a turning point,"
said Mayes, who could become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
"Some people study for months for the final exam. Some people say, hey exactly a month away from the final exam I know if I study every
day I'll be fine.
"I knew this point was going to come. Robert (Brooks) has talked to me about it ever since I was a rookie. He'd say, ' 'D' Mayes, when
Sterling (Sharpe) was here I had to wait and figure things out. When it was my time, the pressure was on. I had to fight a lot of heartache and
b.s. because of it, but I overcame it. Free is doing the same thing right now.' "
Mayes sees himself as the next in line to the Packers wide receiver throne.
"It's just a legacy," Mayes said. "It wasn't started with me. I'm not doing anything new. I'm just following the pattern. It's some stuff that
Sterling started back in the day and it went to Brooks. Then it went to Free. Now it's my turn. No other ifs, ands or buts about it. That's the
legacy that we've got, and it's sacred to us."
Injuries have slowed the Notre Dame product throughout his career with the Packers.
A dislocated shoulder in 1996 limited him to seven games.
Ankle problems in 1997 limited him to 12 games and three starts.
A troublesome knee injury limited him to 10 games and six starts last season after it appeared that his once-promising career was set to blast
off.
After catching three touchdown passes to help the Packers defeat Carolina, 37-30, on Sept. 27, Mayes' season would be ruined the
following week against Minnesota. With Roell Preston suffering from cramps, Mayes was sent in to return a punt in the fourth quarter and was
injured on the play.
He bristles at the notion that he's injury-prone.
"I'm not going out there and trying to get hurt," Mayes said. "I didn't put myself in with three minutes to go in a blowout game to go back and
catch a punt. That wasn't my choice.
"Then it wasn't my choice that someone came and dove on my knee when the play was over and tore it up. You think that was my choice?
"You think I'm a bad athlete because that happened to me? No. Hell, I was just NFC player of the week the week before. See what I'm
saying? It's almost like one tweak of the screwdriver and it could have been just the opposite. Who knows what could have happened had I
not missed those nine weeks last year?"
Mayes made it back to start the final four games of the season. But he points to the Carolina game as a sign of what could have been if he
hadn't been sent out to field that punt.
"Based on my opinion, I know that I could have done the same thing that I did the week before," Mayes said. " . . . All it was, was having the
opportunity. Let's see what 'D' can do in a whole game. He's done it before and every time that Derrick has taken the field and been a starter,
he's taken over the game. He's been an impact player of the game. Every time."
Although injuries did lead to a great deal of frustration, Mayes contends that he's ready to move on.
"I'm not even frustrated anymore," Mayes said.
Each time he had to watch from the sidelines, he set out to use his rehabilitation time wisely.
"Quietly, I have the best opportunity in the world," Mayes said "Suffering those injuries at such an early age, I didn't get thrown into the fire. I
was able to sit and learn from a great group of people.
"I survived them all. 'Dre Rison, (Don) Beebe, Robert Brooks, Anthony Morgan, you keep going down the line. I'm still here. You can talk
about me all you want, but I'm still here.
"I'm not here just to take up space, trust me."
Some contend that Mayes doesn't have the speed to run deep routes. Packers offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis and wide receiver coach
Charlie Baggett have called him a possession receiver.
"When I'm out there, a defender has to run with me," Mayes said. "It's not going to do him any good to take off running down the field
because he's faster than me. What does that mean? I know where I'm going so it doesn't matter.
"The advantage that I've got is that once the ball is in the air, chances are that you're going to be next to me because you've got to guard me,
but once the ball is in the air, that's my ball.
"I don't even play into that, either. . . . My first touchdown was a 40-yard bomb that I beat a Pro Bowl cornerback on. Don't tell me that I
can't catch the ball downfield. I've done it year after year. It's almost as if people have selective amnesia. You want to forget that. It was a
fluke. How . . . was it a fluke?"
Of the wide receivers fighting for the starting job, Mayes appears to have the best hands. However, he turns a few heads when he contends
that he has the best hands in the National Football league.
"The crazy thing about that and why I really don't care is that's regurgitated information from my peers," Mayes said. "That doesn't just stand
here in Green Bay. I'm talking about guys throughout the league will tell you that. 'Who's got the best hands in the league? Derrick has the best
hands in the league.' Anybody will tell you that."
So on Sept. 12, when the Packers line up against the Oakland Raiders, Mayes fully expects to take the field with the first-team offense.
"Certain things are going to take their course, because that's how it's going to happen," Mayes said. "I expect to, when it's time to snap your
chin strap on. They are going to say ' 'D,' we need a good game out of you.' Just like they are going to say Free we need a good game out of
you. Just like they are going to say Brett we need a good game out of you." |
