While the Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t been playing nowhere close to great football, nickelback D.J. Hayden is hoping that will change this week as they will be taken on the team that drafted him: the Oakland Raiders.
Like most players in the league, Hayden, a former first-round selection for Oakland, has a chip on his shoulder from his time with the organization as they elected not to pick up his fifth-year option and let him go after the 2016 season.
In Wednesday’s locker room session with the media, Hayden stated that he’d love to hand the Raiders one in the loss column, but understands the Jags have to play significantly better than they have over the last five weeks.
"Wouldn't that be nice, be sweet. Just to go in there and just whoop a**"
"They ain't bring me back, got to make em pay for it"
"I been had this game marked"
Glad to see #Jaguars DB DJ Hayden is happy to return to his old team in Oakland pic.twitter.com/GdOwLmukx3
— Ben Murphy (@BenMurphyTV) December 11, 2019
Obviously, things didn’t work out for Hayden with the Raiders or the team he joined afterward in the Detroit Lions. However, since joining the Jags last season, Hayden has been solid at the nickeback spot. In fact, this year he has one of the highest grades on the team according to Pro Football Focus with a 77.1.
A win against the Raiders would also be huge in Hayden’s eye’s because of the significance of Week 15’s game to th