Before entering the NFL, Cade Mays’ entire experience at center amounted to 46 emergency snaps as a 20-year-old at Tennessee. When drafted by the Carolina Panthers three years later in the sixth round, center didn’t appear to be in his future. That offseason, the Panthers had signed both Austin Corbett and Bradley Bozeman in free agency—two players who were capable of playing center and far more experienced than Mays. When the Panthers dropped their first depth chart of the 2022 season, Mays was the third-string right guard.
But things would change rather quickly for Mays. After being inactive for nearly two months, he slowly worked his way into a special teams role for his NFL debut in Week 7 of that 2022 season. A few weeks later, he found a role on offense… at fullback of all positions. The following year, he jumped a spot on the depth chart and his first real opportunity on the offensive line came calling. In Week 2, he got his first career start at right guard, and he would log four more starts at left guard.
It was 2024 that turned out to be the transformational for Mays. It started with a massive disappointment. He was cut. He failed to make the Panthers’ 53-man roster. He found a new home on the New York Giants’ practice squad, but would only last a month there. Carolina came crawling back after Corbett, the team’s starting center, tore his bicep. Brady Christensen initially stepped in at center, but eventually he lost his job to Mays—Carolina’s last-ditch effort to fill the position.
“It was just a position that came open, and I got an opportunity there, and just started playing it, started learning it,” Mays told Detroit media on Thursday.
He picked it up in a hurry. PFF credited him with zero sacks allowed in 2024, and he earned a 74.9 pass blocking grade—good for fourth among all NFL centers with at least 300 pass blocking snaps that year.
His strong finish to his third season set him up to compete with Corbett for the starting job out of training camp. Disappointment hit again, though, when the veteran beat him for the job. But Mays stayed ready, and when Corbett suffered a Week 2 injury, there he was, back at center—a position he’d hold for the remainder of the season, even when Corbett returned to injury (and subsequently moved to right guard). Again, he allowed zero sacks. Again, he finished in the top-10 in PFF pass blocking grade (67.6, t-10th).
But despite his meteoric rise that led to a three-year, $25 million contract with the Detroit Lions, Mays knows he’s only getting started at the center position.
“I still feel like I’m on the rise at the position,” Mays said. “I’ve come a long way, but I feel like I’m just now getting on my way up. So feel like I got a long way to go. I’m excited for the journey.”
For some, the task ahead of him could be daunting. He’s entering a town where the offensive line has a strong reputation to uphold, and he’s taking over—a year removed—for one of the best modern-day centers in the NFL in Frank Ragnow—a player Mays studied intensely when making the transition to center a few years back.
“Just (studied) the way that he played, and tried to model my game after that,” Mays said. “My kind of guy in the sense of how he plays the game and how he goes about his work.”
And while the reputation will be hard to live up to, Mays certainly embodies a lot of Ragnow’s reputation. Ragnow (6-foot-5, 311) was considered tall and massive for the center position. Mays is both taller (6-foot-6) and bigger (325). And when it comes to his reputation as a physical mauler, Mays believes he’ll fit right into a Dan Campbell offense.
“Coach Dan, like, my kind of guy. And I feel like I’m his kind of guy,” Mays said. “So you look at stuff like that. You look at the brand of football they play. Like I said, hard-nosed, wanting to move people vertically and get the run game going.”
And if there was ever a sign that Mays was meant to be a Detroit Lion, it was made crystal clear with his answer about his favorite offensive play.
“I like duo. I like going north and south,” Mays said. “But I feel like I can fit into any scheme, run any scheme. But I like power football and going north and south.”
Music to the ears of both Jahmyr Gibbs and his new running mate, Isiah Pacheco.
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