Is Michael Mayer playing this week? Latest update on Raiders tight end

The Las Vegas Raiders haven't had the services of tight end Michael Mayer since the Week 3 game against the Carolina Panthers, but that appears set to change for the Week 11 game against the Miami Dolphins.

A former second-round pick of the Raiders in 2023, Mayer left the team following the loss to the Panthers due to a personal issue. The exact details remain unknown, but we do know it had nothing to do with frustration over his diminished role that is directly tied to the addition of 2024 first-round pick and tight end, Brock Bowers.

As head coach Antonio Pierce revealed earlier in the week, Mayer rejoined the team during the bye week and was able to return to practice ahead of the game against the Dolphins.

But will he suit up? Here's the latest on Mayer.

Is Michael Mayer playing this week?

Mayer was on the non-football illness list as of Saturday morning, but the team has now activated the Notre Dame product, which puts him on track to make his return to the field.

Pierce didn't exactly commit to Mayer playing, but he did hint that it would happen after the tight end had time to ramp-up his activity and get back into football shape thanks to his returning to the team the week prior.

"It was good to see big Mike back," he said, according to Vegas Sports Today. "He looked good, had a little tan, so I don't know where he was at but he was hanging out somewhere good. But he looked good, he was in shape, he stayed out here this entire bye week, working out and getting himself back into football shape."

"Good thing we had a bye week," Pierce added with a smile. "That's a good ramp-up period."

Michael Mayer's absence from Raiders explained

Again, we don't have the specifics behind why Mayer was away from the team, but according to his family, who reached out to the Raiders in the wake of the tight end stepping away, it was "a situation that has occurred in his life before."

Mayer touched on his absence during the week, but didn't go into detail. He did, however, have a great message.

"The No. 1 important rule is that football's not bigger than life. It isn't, and it never has been," Mayer said, per Tashan Reed of The Athletic. "I just needed to figure some things out. That's what I did, and I'm on my feet again. I feel great. I'm sleeping well. I'm doing all the things that I need to be doing."

With Mayer's activation from the NFI list, we would expect him to suit up versus the Dolphins. Whether or not he has a limited workload remains to be seen, but the important thing is that he's doing better.

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