Mike Mayock spoke to head coach Jon Gruden and owner Mark Davis a few times about becoming Raiders general manager. The conversation was so easy, at times so casual, that Mayock wasn’t sure where common discourse ended and formal interview began.
It portended a fruitful partnership forged Monday with an official press conference. Mayock was a favorite heading into the process, but those conversations with Gruden and Davis sealed the deal.
“When the opportunity came to talk with Mike this time around, he was one of the first people we wanted to talk to, among others,” Davis said. “He hit it out of the park.”
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But it wasn’t the first time Mayock interviewed with the Raiders.
Al Davis brought Mayock in more than a decade ago to discuss an opening in the front office. As was common with the since deceased Raiders owner, the whole interview was conducted on the down low.
“I flew out here clandestinely to meet Mr. Al Davis, and he took me into this building and he hid me for about eight hours and he grilled me on everything, as you know,” Mayock said during a Monday press conference at the team’s training facility. “I came out of the building that day with my head spinning. Nobody really knew for a couple of years that he and I had talked about a potential job with the Oakland Raiders that long ago.”
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Mayock brought it up after accepting his first NFL front office job, following years as NFL Network’s senior draft analyst. There was an intense interview process involving in getting the gig, just like it was with Al Davis way back when.
“What I remember about that interview process was being in this big conference room, just me and Mr. Davis,” Mayock said. “He told me to get up on the board and he told me to put up a certain formation, a certain front. And while I was doing that, I realized he was already on the next topic. He was like, ‘Who are the top five quarterbacks in the draft? Go one through five.’
I got done with five and he’d change the topic again. For six to eight hours he hopped from topic to topic. I realized my answers needed to be quick and they needed to be on point because he’s moving on. That’s how he challenged people. It taught me a little bit about the interviewing process, to be really honest with you. He’d get you off kilter a little bit and see how you react.”
Mayock sees similarities with that interview and talking football with Gruden.
“When you deal with Jon Gruden, and I learned this a long time ago, he’s looking you right in the eye, he’s challenging you,” Mayock said. “Everything’s a question or a challenge, you better be ready for it. By the way, there’s going to be video backup in the form of a text. With Jon, you have to be ready. You have to be prepared. He’s so quick mentally on the football side, it is a lot like Mr. Davis.”