Following his playing career, Mayhew graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2000. He worked as an administrator for the XFL the same year before joining the Detroit Lions in 2001, where he worked as an assistant executive prior to being promoted to general manager in 2008. He remained in that role until 2015 and had senior executive stints with the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers before spending three seasons as Commanders general manager.
Mayhew was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the tenth round (262nd overall) of the 1988 NFL Draft.[1] He suffered a wrist injury during his rookie year and was placed on injured reserve before he could make any game appearances with them.[1][5] He left in free agency the following year and signed with the Washington Redskins, where he started for them over the next four seasons including in their Super Bowl XXVI win at the end of the 1991 season.[1]
In 1993, he signed a four-year $5.5 million contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.[2] He was offered a new contract by them during the 1997 offseason but declined it and subsequently retired, citing the lack of competitive compensation, the recent birth of his child, and his desire to finish his law degree that he started while living in Washington.[5] He finished his career playing in 118 games with 473 tackles, 21 interceptions, 4 forced fumbles, and a sack.[6]
Mayhew interned for nine months within the Redskins' personnel department in 1999, where he assisted in scouting players for the team leading up to the 2000 NFL Draft.[7] The following year, he worked as a labor operations and legal intern for the NFL league office,[7] and was also the director of football administration for the XFL until it folded after its lone season in 2001.[8][9] That same year, Mayhew was hired by the Detroit Lions as their senior director of football administration by Matt Millen before being promoted to assistant general manager in October 2004.[1][10] He became the team's general manager upon the firing of Millen in September 2008 and retained that role for eight seasons until being fired following a 1–7 start to the 2015 season.[11][12]
Mayhew spent the 2016 season with the New York Giants as their director of football operations before joining the San Francisco 49ers as a senior personnel executive the following year.[13][14] He was promoted to their vice president of player personnel in 2019.[15] In January 2021, Mayhew was hired as the general manager (GM) of the Washington Commanders.[16] He was replaced as GM by Adam Peters in January 2024, but remained with the team as a senior personnel executive and advisor to Peters.[17]
Following his time at Florida State, Mayhew briefly worked at a First Union bank in Charlotte.[18] He attended night classes at Georgetown University Law Center during his time with the Redskins in the early 1990s but had to drop out when he left for the Buccaneers in 1993.[19] He re-enrolled there following his retirement as a player in 1997 and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 2000.[2][8][19] Mayhew is a member of The Florida Bar and has also served as a board member of the Henry Ford Museum and Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL).[7][20]
