Could The Oakland Raiders Potentially Bring Hayden Back In 2017?

The Oakland Raiders have some depth issues in the secondary and one possible solution could be to bring back a former first rounder.

On the surface, it looks incredibly implausible – the Oakland Raiders bringing D.J. Hayden back into the fold for another year. After all, they already declined his fifth-year option, which makes him a free agent this offseason. But could he be back in black when the new season begins?

As a player long considered a first round bust, Hayden has earned the ire of many among the Raider Nation. Not that it wasn’t entirely earned. Inconsistent play, a penchant for taking really poor penalties, and oh yeah, the fact that he couldn’t make it through an entire season without ending up on the injured reserve earned him that ire.

But the fact remains – the Oakland Raiders are very thin at cornerback and truth be told, before he suffered a season-ending injury, Hayden was having arguably, his best season as a professional – not that it was a huge bar to clear or anything.

But with David Amerson and Sean Smith holding down the outside, Hayden actually did fairly well in the slot. It even seems fair to say that he was better in coverage than Travis Carrie.

Yes, he still drew an eye-popping amount of flags – many of them for stupid infractions. And yes, he still sometimes got beat like the proverbial rented mule. But to be fair, Oakland’s secondary got beat in the same fashion for a good chunk of the year.

But the fact remains, Hayden wasn’t half bad in 2016 (The flip side of that, of course, is that he was only half good, but that’s neither here nor there) But he seemed to be starting to put some of the pieces together – sorta kinda. Let’s just say he wasn’t nearly the train wreck he was earlier in his career and leave it at that.

Though the Raiders could opt to pick up a corner in the draft – and they very likely will – they still need to address the quality of their depth. Outside of Amerson, Smith, and Carrie, the Raiders are pretty much tapped out in terms of depth. Dexter McDonald and Antonio Hamilton notwithstanding – though, they don’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence, either.

It seems pretty clear that the Raiders are going to need to address the depth issue in the secondary at some point. Be it in free agency or via the draft.

Which makes it somewhat plausible – or not exactly impossible – that Reggie McKenzie looks at bringing Hayden back for another tour of duty. Because we all know he’s got a soft spot for the guy.

The pros of bringing Hayden back are the he knows the system, is still very athletic, is young and seemed to be improving last season, and best of all – he would come cheap. Given what teams have of him on tape, he’s not going to be signing a high dollar deal this time around. If ever.

And let’s face it, finding a solid corner via free agency might cost more than McKenzie is wiling to spend. And finding one in the draft is very rarely, a sure thing.

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What Hayden could potentially be is a very serviceable slot corner. The team could still draft a corner, but they would also have veteran backup in-house if they needed him.

It wouldn’t be the perfect, or even necessarily the best solution. But it could plug a hole in Oakland’s defense. Hayden could potentially add a little depth, and who knows, if his play continues on the upward trajectory it seemed to be on last season, the Raiders might find themselves not only addressing a problem, but finding a great value doing it.