Casey Hayward to sign with the Raiders

On Tuesday afternoon, it was reported by NFL insider Josina Anderson that former Chargers All-Pro cornerback Casey Hayward is signing with the Raiders. He’ll be reuniting with his former defensive coordinator in Gus Bradley and defensive backs coach, Ron Milus.

Hayward was originally signed by the Chargers as a free agent prior to the 2016 season. In his first year with the Bolts, Hayward led the NFL with seven interceptions en route to earning his first Second-Team All-Pro nomination. In the following year, Hayward picked off another four passes, earning his second-straight All-Pro to the second team.

Over his final three seasons with the Chargers, Hayward managed just three more interceptions, including only one in 2020. After he notched 42 passes defended through the 2016-2017 seasons, his production there also took a hit with 24 from 2018-2020.

The Chargers released Hayward after a year in which both his yards allowed (631), touchdowns allowed (5), and missed tackle percentage (18.0) were the highest in years.

The decline for cornerbacks over the age of 30 has always been fairly steep and it seems the curve finally caught up with Showcase. Luckily, the Bolts managed to replace Hayward with Asante Samuel Jr. in the second round of this year’s draft.

Even though he’s now with the Raiders, we still want to wish Hayward and his family the best in his next chapter in Las Vegas.