Oakland Raiders: Full Position Breakdown and Depth-Chart Analysis at Cornerback
Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie will be lauded for his confidence or chastised for his stubbornness in handling the cornerbacks.
McKenzie decided not to arm his secondary with proven talent at the cornerback position in a pass-happy league. The Raiders' top three projected cornerbacks have a combined 15 starts, among them oft-injured leading cornerback D.J. Hayden.
The Raiders weren’t strapped for cash, and they decided to wait until the seventh round to select cornerback Dexter McDonald out of Kansas who’s an undeveloped talent with potential. What gives, McKenzie? No solid plan B for a fragile inexperienced group still learning the game? I don’t know what the GM saw, but let’s take a look at who’s defending passes for the Raiders going forward:
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| Player | Height/Weight | Snaps | Yards Allowed | TDs Allowed | Interceptions |
| D.J. Hayden | 5'11", 190 lbs | 341 | 475 | 6 | 1 |
| Travis Carrie | 6'0", 204 lbs | 311 | 369 | 1 | 1 |
| Keith McGill | 6'3", 211 lbs | 84 | 90 | 0 | 0 |
Hayden Finishing on a High Note?
You'll hear a generic phrase pertaining to the No. 12 overall pick from the 2013 draft from optimistic Raiders fans and analysts who misled them. “Well, Hayden finished the season strong.” That’s not exactly the truth. Hayden surrendered six touchdowns in 10 games, which tied with eight other players—Hayden had the least number of snaps among those eight players, per Pro Football Focus.
Some optimists say, he was picked on by the Denver Broncos late in the season. On the contrary, despite a 47-14 loss on the road to the Broncos in the season finale, Hayden didn’t give up a single touchdown in that game. He took his lumps in the first 41-17 blowout loss to the Broncos in Week 10 and against the Buffalo Bills in Week 16, giving up two touchdowns in each game. Let’s see exactly what happened on film:
Hayden is matched up against wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders at the top of the screen.
Sanders takes the route outside and beats Hayden with pure speed down the sideline for a touchdown.
Hayden is matched against wide receiver Robert Woods at the bottom of the screen.
He stays with Woods throughout the route, but turns his back to look for the ball.
Hayden lost track of Woods while in the end zone, which led to a touchdown pass from quarterback Kyle Orton.
Hayden is matched against wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
Watkins simply runs by Hayden on a deep route.
Hayden doesn't have the speed to keep up with Watkins down the field, surrendering an easy touchdown.
Hayden either couldn’t keep pace with his target or loss track of the receiver. These aren’t incidents primarily in the beginning of his return or the end of the season. The lapses spanned over six weeks with three other touchdowns surrendered in between.
Yes, it was a relief Hayden played the second half of the season, but it wasn’t his best showing in terms of becoming a lead cornerback.
Hayden's Silver Lining
Despite the breakdown, a silver lining as shiny as the color on Hayden’s helmet exists in terms of unleashing his potential. Hayden is a thinned-framed cornerback with good footwork similar to Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr., who ranked as the best cornerback in the league, per PFF. At 5’10”, 199 pounds, Harris developed into a Pro Bowl cornerback under Jack Del Rio as the defensive coordinator.
Del Rio frequently moved Harris into the slot playing him in nickel packages as much as Bradley Roby who was the third designated cornerback on the depth chart. The same formula could potentially work out for Hayden. Why?
Top wide receivers are coming into the league bigger and stronger. For cornerbacks under 6’ and less than 200 pounds, that’s a tough task to cover when defenders cannot put their hands on receivers down the field.
| Player | Team | Snaps in Slot | Yards Allowed | TDs Allowed | INTs |
| Bradley Roby | DEN | 255 | 306 | 1 | 1 |
| Chris Harris | DEN | 249 | 143 | 0 | 1 |
| Travis Carrie | OAK | 177 | 223 | 1 | 0 |
| D.J. Hayden | OAK | 16 | 18 | 1 | 0 |
As illustrated above, Hayden only played 16 snaps in the slot, which means he constantly battled No. 1 and No. 2 receivers. On select plays, Hayden should swap positions with cornerback Keith McGill depending on the matchup. McGill should cover taller slot receivers like Marques Colston, while Hayden covers the smaller shifty slot receivers similar to T.Y. Hilton.
Shifting to slot defender isn’t a demotion for Hayden. Football boils down to matchups and how to exploit them or even the playing field. McGill has a solid chance of batting down some of those pinpoint overhead passes when in stride. He’ll also win some jump-ball passes needed to force turnovers.
Travis Carrie is the surefire starter at this point. He put together a solid 2014 rookie campaign surrendering only one touchdown in 13 games and four starts. He consistently practiced with the first-team, barring any late free-agent pickups, he’s the second-most experienced cornerback in terms of starts. I’ve been on record saying he’ll steal the show in the secondary as the Raiders best cornerback in 2015.
As the Seattle Seahawks linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. coordinated one of the most fierce linebackers corps with the benefit of knowing taller defensive backs Richard Sherman (6’3”), Kam Chancellor (6’3”) and Byron Maxwell (6’1”) were lurking in the secondary capable of covering space with their length. If Hayden surrenders touchdowns at a rate similar to his 2014 campaign, Norton won’t hesitate to add size within the secondary.
ESPN’s Bill Williamson rated the secondary as the worst positional group on the roster. I’d have to disagree solely based on the potential in Carrie, McGill and Hayden as decent defenders not responsible for consistently covering the opposing team’s No. 1 option.
Personally, there are bigger concerns at defensive end as opposed to the secondary. Carrie, Hayden and McGill are all in the infant stages of their careers, but they’re getting the best coaching from Del Rio who guided a top-notch pass defense in his previous stop before arriving in Oakland.
The Reserve Trio Led by Neiko Thorpe
The reserve trio should be active on special teams and in dime packages. James Dockery has started two games in four seasons. Dockery is a core special teams player unless he’s pushed out by one of the talented young linebackers.
McDonald will continue to develop. He’s a physical cornerback who jams at the line of scrimmage and plays with confidence. However, he needs to work on his footwork before he sees significant snaps in the regular season. Based on Carrie’s ascension as a former seventh-round pick, McDonald may see opportunity in one to two years pending the performances of Oakland’s top three cornerbacks.
Neiko Thorpe fills McGill’s role from the 2014 season. He’ll get limited snaps in the regular season in dime packages, but stands in line as the top reserve cornerback in case of injury or poor performance. He made his presence known during mandatory minicamp, per SilverandBlackPride.com writer Levi Damien:
"Neiko Thorpe made Derek Carr pay for a couple of late mistakes as well. On one of his many passes that was behind his receiver deep, Thorpe stayed with Cooper and when Coop tried to high point it, the 6-1 DB broke it up. Then Thorpe finished off practice by intercepting Carr in the endzone on a pass that was too high for Thompkins in the endzone.
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It’s a small sample, but the coaching staff knows he’s dialed in from the beginning. Thorpe stands a slight chance of making an impact if McGill or Hayden flop in a season of high hopes for both players.
Sound off on the Raiders cornerback position. You can follow Maurice Moton on Twitter and give your input!
Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com and Pro Football Focus.
Player Measurements courtesy of Raiders.com, PhiladelphiaEagles.com and Seahawks.com.
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