He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles prior to being selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 10th round of the 1988 NFL draft.

[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.

[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.

[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.