David Mayo: Panthers’ First Fifth Round Draft Pick
Texas State linebacker David Mayo was selected with the first of the two fifth round picks that the Panthers had, the 169th pick.
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Linebacker was not the Panthers’ most obvious need coming into this draft, but the Panthers used their first pick on Shaq Thompson and now a fifth rounder on Mayo. Thompson was taken to be the athletic playmaker at the weak side to complement Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly. Different logic was in play for Mayo.
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While Mayo was the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year according Yahoo’s Eric Edholm, Mayo was drafted to help cure some of the Panthers special teams coverage woes. The Panthers ranked dead last in punt coverage last year. Overall the Panthers had the 31st best coverage unit in the League according to the Dallas Morning News.
So meet David Mayo, the one time Santa Monica Community College player who transferred to the Texas State Bobcats around the time that Texas State became a FBS school. Though sharing a conference with the Appalachian State Mountaineers, Texas State did not have to face the squad from Boone in the scheduling rotation.
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Mayo is currently listed at 6’2” 228 lbs. He originally played defensive back at Texas State, meaning he has that in common with Shaq Thompson. He moved to linebacker as a senior and finished with 154 total tackles and three forced fumbles.
Mayo will be a special teams guy at first, but you never know where the road might lead after that. After all when you have the Kevin Greene/Clay Matthews hair of Mayo, the sky might truly be the limit.
Don’t be surprised if Gettleman brings in more undrafted free agents who could become special teams contributors. The Panthers can’t really afford to be so bad on special teams again.