Has DJ Hayden played his last down with the Raiders
Oakland Raider CB, DJ Hayden was placed on Injured/Reserve and will miss the rest of the season.
By Rich Winter
The news that Raider CB DJ Hayden was placed on Injured/Reserve and will miss the rest of the season because of a hamstring problem sent a ripple through the Silver & Black Empire that is 9-2 heading into this weekends game with the Bills.
Not only do the Raiders become extremely thin at the corner position for the rest of the season, but also, Hayden, a former first-round pick of the Oakland Raiders, has likely played his last game for the Silver & Black. Hayden's Oakland career has been beset by injuries and inconsistency while playing on some bad football teams for most of his career.
Whether Oakland gets to the Super Bowl this season or not, remains to be seen, but with a young team that is absolutely loaded on offense, and one that still has a few question marks on defense, upgrades on defense are coming this off-season.
Hayden has been with the Raiders for four season, and in that time span he's racked up just 3 interceptions. At 5-feeet-10 and a smallish, 190, Hayden has never seemed to look the part of an NFL shut-down corner. He's no Josh Norman or Richard Sherman and at the end of the day he's more often than not, trailing in coverage or getting flagged for penalties after he's been beat, as was seen in the Carolina game.
At the end of the day, he's just not that good!
Despite the defense playing better in recent weeks, Oakland is ranked 28th against the pass. That's not a championship caliber defense, yet! You put a shut-down corner on what that Raider defense already has, with the pass rush of Mack, Irvin and Smith (if he ever gets on the field), combined with that offense...Look out!!
