Casey Hayward Jr. Sticking with a Familiar Defensive Scheme

It’s always beneficial when a player has played the scheme in years past.

That’s the case for cornerback Casey Hayward Jr. as he followed new defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and defensive backs coach Ron Milus to the Las Vegas Raiders.

All three were together with the Los Angeles Chargers last year.

"Like I said, a lot of similarities for me with the defensive staff,” Hayward said via Raiders.com.

“I've been with (defensive backs coach Ron Milus) "Milo" going on six years now. That's been my same defensive back coach, been with (defensive coordinator) Gus (Bradley) for the last five years as well.”

“It's a lot of similarities. The players have brought me in and treated me like family from the start."

Under the leadership of both Bradley and Milus, Hayward had a successful 2020 campaign. He appeared in 14 games last year including 13 starts. Hayward booked 41 tackles including 36 solos, one interception, and eight passes defended.

His efforts in Week 1 at the Cincinnati Bengals with a career-high 12 tackles and two passes defended earned him the AFC Defensive Player of the Week.

Since Hayward’s entrance into the NFL in 2012, he ranks tied ninth in interceptions. He has 100 passes defended, which is good for the sixth-most in the league.

The similarity Hayward is sticking with will be beneficial to him as well as the Raiders defense this season.

It looks like he’s settled in well alongside his defensive coaching staff that all moved to Las Vegas from Los Angeles.

Now it’s all up to whether Hayward can deliver on game day.

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