Oakland Raiders: No Real Controversy, Starting Job Is D.J. Hayden’s To Lose
By Kevin Saito
To hear some telling it, the Oakland Raiders have something of a positional controversy going on as they wind their way through their three day minicamp. No, Christian Ponder isn’t threatening to unseat Derek Carr as the starting QB – breathe easy, Raider fans.
This controversy comes in one of the areas acknowledged to be among the team’s weakest positional groups – cornerback.
The controversy – such as it is – was kicked off by a couple of Tweets by Raiders beat writers Vic Tafur and Bill Williamson.
It’s just June 9 but much more McGill than Hayden with first team at CB along with Carrie
— Bill Williamson (@BWilliamsonNFL) June 9, 2015
Hayden not a lock to be starting, even with this inexperienced group of CBs. #Raiders
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) June 9, 2015
The internet being what it is of course, has taken those two Tweets and run with them. There is a lot of speculation that Oakland is moving on from their former first round pick and that D.J. Hayden has already lost his job to last year’s fourth rounder, Keith McGill. And the fact that Tafur and Williamson both noted that McGill is taking more first team reps in minicamp has only bolstered those rumors.
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Breathe, people. It is – as Williamson noted – only June ninth. And this is just a minicamp.
When Raiders boss Reggie McKenzie let Carlos Rogers and Tarell Brown walk away as free agents, he was sending a clear message to his young cornerback group – it’s time to grow up, step up, and play ball.
With James Dockery as the most experienced member of Oakland’s cornerback group – with all of four years of experience in the league – it’s safe to say that they’re incredibly short on experience. While they have some terrific athletes in Hayden, Travis Carrie, McGill, Neiko Thorpe, and Chimdi Chekwa, they need time on the field to develop, and they need experience against top offensive players.
With Carrie and Hayden penciled in as the starting tandem, it’s been expected that McGill would also have an expanded role this season, playing primarily in the slot. If what is expected is true, and McGill will have a heavier workload this season, it makes a world of sense to have him on the field – against the first unit offense – to allow him to get some time and experience under his belt before the season begins and the games start to count.
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It also makes sense to be a little cautious with Hayden, given his injury history. If you recall, Hayden suffered an injury during offseason work last season – an injury that cost him half of the 2014 campaign, and a ton of crucial experience.
Given that history – as well as the injuries that cost him a ton of time his rookie season – the fact that Oakland is being a little more cautious with him, at least in the early part of the offseason, makes a lot of sense.
Especially if they’re going to be relying on him as much as is being anticipated this season.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of sense in running Hayden out there during minicamp and risking injury. And on the other side of the coin, giving McGill most of the snaps with the first team offense makes a ton of sense.
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While nobody should take anything for granted under coaches who are as no-nonsense as Jack Del Rio and Ken Norton Jr., there does seem to be the sense that one of the two starting jobs is Hayden’s to lose. That isn’t to say he can’t lose the job because he’s performing poorly, or because he just flat gets outplayed by Carrie and McGill. Those things could happen. But Del Rio and Norton Jr. are going to give him every chance to hold on to that top spot – after all, for as much as they don’t know about him or what they have in him, there is a lot more that they do know and seem to like it.
Entering his third year in the league – largely a disappointment to this point – the Raiders have to figure out what they have in him as a player. Hayden has shown tremendous flashes of how good he can be – the problem is, those flashes were pretty hit and miss.
He closed out the 2014 season pretty strong, playing in the last eight games, racking up 42 tackles, picking off a pass, and defending ten others. He was good in the back half of 2014, but he was inconsistent. At best. For every terrific, athletic play he made, it seemed like he was burned badly on the next one.
This truly is a make or break year for D.J. Hayden. If he can’t find that elusive consistency the team desperately needs out of him, if he can’t use his natural athleticism and skill to be the team’s number one corner, and if he can’t cut down on the mental and physical errors, he likely won’t be back in Silver and Black next season.
So while many continue trying to make hay out of Williamson and Tafur’s Tweets, the truth is that there really isn’t much hay to be made. The fact that McGill is running with the ones during a June minicamp is essentially, a non-story. At this point, it’s not that big of a deal.
This is absolutely Hayden’s job to lose. That being said, if McGill is still running with the ones during actual training camp, now that would be a story.