With the Raiders sitting at 6-6, it’s only reasonable to start looking forward to next year and what the team might look like in 2022. Las Vegas will have a new head coach and it remains to be seen how much turnover the roster has by this time next year.
However, one player the Raiders should really consider bringing back is cornerback Casey Hayward Jr. He’s been one of the league’s best defensive backs this season and has stabilized the pass defense for Las Vegas.
In a recent piece by Pro Football Focus, they ranked the top 75 players who are scheduled to become free agents in 2022. Not surprisingly, Hayward was high up on the list after a fantastic season so far.
Here is a snippet of what the site had to say about the veteran cornerback this season:
“Casey Hayward Jr. was a cap casualty of the Los Angeles Chargers last offseason after earning the lowest grade of his career by a wide margin — 59.5 overall after zero prior grades below 70.0. Not much of a market developed for the 32-year-old, and he eventually signed a one-year, $2.5 million flier with the Raiders and former Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.
All Hayward Jr. has done this year is regain his elite form, with his 83.3 coverage grade his best mark since 2017. He thrives playing zone coverage in a predominantly Cover 3 system, but there are a lot of defenses running such a scheme, so he should be playing his way into a better deal for next year.”
While the Raiders do have two young cornerbacks they like in Trayvon Mullen and Nate Hobbs, Hayward is the type of veteran presence the secondary has needed for a while. He is consistent every week and has no problem matching up with much bigger receivers.
Assuming Gus Bradley stays as the defensive coordinator in Las Vegas, it’s reasonable to think that Hayward will return in 2022. He’s been everything the Raiders could have hoped for and more this season.
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