The Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense was downright hard to watch at times, but if there was one player who brought it week after week, it was nickelback D.J. Hayden. The seventh-year veteran had the best season of his career, totaling 42 tackles, two sacks, six pass breakups, and a forced fumble on the season.
For the most part, Hayden blanketed those who lined up against him in the slot, and when defenders did catch the ball on him, it was for a minimal gain. His ability to provide above average play at the nickelback position and make tackles were a big part of why he acquired a Pro Football Focus grade of 77.4. According to their regular season research, he also was listed as the league’s tenth-best cornerback on their rankings for 2019.
10. D.J. HAYDEN, JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
The former 12th overall pick of the 2013 NFL Draft has developed better awareness in his ability to play through traffic against picks, rub routes and screens while in man-to-man press coverage.
The Jaguars run a lot of single-high man-to-man coverage and Cover-3 zone, and Hayden flourished within this scheme by allowing the fewest passing yards (210) of any qualifying cornerback. Like McCourty, Hayden is also one of four players at his position who has not allowed a touchdown pass all season. This form of success has bred confidence and new life into Hayden, who was once seen as a first-round bust in Oakland but is now coming off the highest-graded season of his seven-year career.
Hayden tied with Richard Sherman by allowing the third-lowest yards per reception average among cornerbacks (8.4) to go along with the NFL’s 20th-best passer rating when targeted (74.2), proving that sometimes it’s not about when you go in the draft, but rather, where you go.
As a former first round pick for the Oakland Raiders the early stages of his career weren’t as strong as Hayden would’ve liked and he eventually parted ways and found himself in Detroit temporarily. After that, he found his way to Jacksonville as a free-agent in 2018, and what a great decision that turned out to be.
In a time when the Jags’ defensive backs group was going through a lot in 2019, Hayden stepped up not only on the field, but off of it too, by becoming one of the voices of the locker-room. If the team can add some younger interior rushers and help at linebacker, 2020 may be an even better year for Hayden, who still has room to improve.