Or should we say stupider than he already looks?
The Green Bay Packers let cornerback Casey Hayward walk in free agency this past offseason. Hayward signed a modest — for a top cornerback — three year, $15.3 million contract with the San Diego Chargers.
The Packers showed no interest in re-signing Hayward and, we will say, there was good reason for that. They looked stacked at the cornerback position and had a number of younger, cheaper players ready for increased playing time. Two of those players — Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins — outperformed Hayward in 2015.
Things look awfully different now, though.
The Packers have been ravaged by injuries at the cornerback position. Sam Shields will probably never play again because of recurring issues with concussions. Both Randall and Rollins, when healthy, have played worse in their second seasons than they did as rookies. The depth behind them has been forced into starting roles they’re not ready for or capable of filling.
And Hayward?
He just leads the NFL in interceptions with six. Here was the sixth against Houston on Sunday.
Casey Hayward is a monster. How did the Packers let him get away? He is the #Chargers defensive MVP this se… https://t.co/gguFhQOpLz
— East Village Times (@EVT_News) November 27, 2016
Meanwhile, the Packers have just seven interceptions as a team.
They’re led in that category by safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix’s two picks. Three of the seven picks have been made by linebackers. Only one of them came courtesy of a cornerback. That one belongs to Randall.
Let’s review that again in plain terms.
- Total interceptions — Packers: 7, Casey Hayward: 6
- Interceptions made by defensive backs — Casey Hayward: 6, Packers: 4
- Interceptions made by cornerbacks — Casey Hayward: 6, Packers: 1
Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but letting Hayward walk now looks like an error on Ted Thompson’s part. Throw in Shields’ concussion history and it just looks stupid.
Yep bad move looking back on it now. But every other 31 GMs always drag Ted by the hair behind the woodshed, that is…….. when he’s awake and it isn’t Soup or TV-Time.
Yea, i posted about this multiple times. Last year concerning Davon House, and a few times this season about Casey Hayward’s production and how he should have kept him here. But……..good job.
After lamenting this for a while, I recall in retrospect that Hayward was not doing too well, so I believed that he was just another rookie “one hit wonder”. But after thinking about it recently (the last 3 to 4 weeks) per one of your earlier article at Total Packers, I realized that it was most likely not Hayward’s inability but rather Dom Capers and TT’s inability to scheme and to have a decent “front 7”. I am CERTAIN that this has impacted many of our DB’s in the recent past. Just look at some of the names that are still playing, or had decent careers after they left GB. Woodson, Mackenzie, House, and now Hayward, I am certain that I am missing someone. I believe more than ever that TT and Dom Capers were/are at fault for not getting better personnel (FRONT 7) and not scheming or playing these guys to their attributes rather than playing “cookie cutter” player schemes. The brain trust in Green Bay has once again proven themselves to be unable to think out of the box, or to provide decent players in very important positions or in important roles.
Exactly.
What is it, then? Has he come into his own in SD and would have done the same in GB this year? Is it SD’s scheme suiting him better? Is it SD’s CB coaching staff? I liked Joe Whitt’s work so far. We’ve had nice secondaries for the past four seasons, maybe longer. Was it that we had better talent, and not so much great coaching by Whitt?
It takes a long time too know the defensive scheme’s. Even Tramon Williams as a veteran, was confused sometimes on where to line up. there’s a price to pay for having one of the youngest teams in the league.
Stupid worthless article. Hayward had 3 picks and 14 passes defensed in the past three years over 31 games for the packers. This site was fucking complaining about how awful he was at tackling. Now all the sudden you are sucking his balls? One year doesn’t make you. Just ask RG3. I don’t want TT back next year, but Jesus this isn’t necessarily on him. He took a small gamble that Shields would be healthy, and Randall and Rollins would not regress, and if there was an injury to any of those guys, Gunter or Hyde could fill in fine as a dimeback. I would have done the same thing and used that money to sign Bahktiari. Idk about you, but did you watch that Seattle game yesterday? That offensive line is t’rble. They have been. For as good as Schneider has been at drafting talent, he has not been good at finding capable offensive linemen. I would rather protect Rodgers blindside with a top 10 left tackle than a projected number 3 corner. If you want to bust TTs balls about something, bust him for HaHa Clinton Dix. Talk about incompetence, holy shit.
Kato, it’s a fairly relevant article considering the current state of the secondary. Also, read MMTTDCSUCK’s article(wish he’d change his name). There is some legitimacy in his thought process on why a player would excell outside of Green Bay. we all bashed House and Hayward at certain times, just like i bash Gunter and especially Hyde. But the bottom line is outside of Shields, we have a horrible secondary. And one could argue if in fact, Shields can even be labeled a shut down corner. Also, why do we have 10 million under the cap, but we’re void of quality players in the secondary? Something aint right in titleTown brother.
My thoughts are in line with MMTT’s….and also that Capers defense is too complex for a lot of these guys, and Ted giving them development players doesn’t help the cause. Hence why most people want the 3 stooges replaced. This shit is getting old…..like 6 years old, same ol shit.
Didn’t he sign with them for 5 mill a year? Remember me notching about us resigning Crosby over Hayward. We could have really used him this year. Kickers are replaceable… unless it is Vinatieri or Tucker.
Casey Hayward, aside from an anomaly rookie season, basically sucked dick during his time with the Packers.
He’s going to wind up doing the same shit with the Chargers – blow it up for a year, take 3 years off.
The Packers piss away enough money keeping their own and having them flounder under The Rug.