It's been an up and down first few years in the NFL for former Tennessee Vols center Cade Mays. UT's former center has spent the vast majority of his first three seasons with the Carolina Panthers, and Mays' time there hasn't been consistently good.
However, things ended in 2024 on an up note for the VFL. After failing to make the Panthers' initial 2024 roster back in August, he caught on with the New York Giants practice squad before getting signed back with Carolina in October. From there, he started every game for the Panthers from Week 8 through the end of the season.
That turnaround landed him on a list he hopes to move up on next offseason. Pro Football Focus recently put out their list of the top 22 centers in the NFL going into 2025, and Mays checked in at #22.
This is what PFF had to say about Mays:
The Panthers' starting center job is up in the air heading into 2025. Austin Corbett returns to the roster, but having played fewer than 300 snaps in each of the past two seasons due to injury, he will have to compete for the role.
Mays stepped up as the Panthers‘ starting center in Week 8 last season and went on to produce the sixth-highest PFF overall grade at the position from that point through the end of the regular season. - Mason Cameron, Pro Football Focus
The season-ending biceps tear for starting center Austin Corbett opened the door for Mays to return to Carolina, and the former Vol did not waste the opportunity, where he was one of the highest graded centers the rest of the season. After a shaky first game against Denver, where he posted a PFF offensive grade of 47.7, five of his next eight games saw him post a pass blocking grade of 74.0 or higher, with three of them being 84.4+.
Mays played multiple spots on the Vols' offensive line from 2020-21 after transferring from Georgia. However, he finished last year for Tennessee as the team's starting right tackle, where he appeared in 10 games during Josh Heupel's first season in Knoxville and earned second-team All-SEC honors. He was taken by the Panthers in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
We'll see if Mays, who signed a restricted free agent tender with Carolina back in March, can keep his starting spot in 2025 with Corbett returning on a one-year deal. Regardless, he's certainly earned a much longer look from Carolina's coaching staff during this year's training camp and preseason.
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