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The free agent market has been very silent around former Green Bay Packers cornerback Casey Hayward — at least in the press. There hasn't been nary a rumor or visit since the market opened, and for a young talented cornerback, that's an odd development. Maybe this will help explain.
No idea if this is impacting anything but Casey Hayward changed agents before free agency.
— Packer Report (@PackerReport) March 13, 2016
Perhaps Hayward's new representatives are doing their homework behind the scenes. Maybe they're waiting for various aspects of the market to settle. Maybe they're taking meetings in secret and are much better at keeping a lid on things than most, who use the press to apply pressure based on the rumors circulated.
That said, we're interested in Hayward for our purposes for two primary reasons:
1. The Chiefs lost cornerback Sean Smith to free agency. The Chiefs were reportedly making a play to keep Smith in house, which leads us to believe that General Manager John Dorsey could be interested in adding a veteran rather than banking on his younger talent to develop.
2. Dorsey was Director of Football Operations for the Green Bay Packers when they selected Hayward as their second round pick in 2012. In fact, Dorsey was their College Scouting Director for 12 years before that, meaning he likely saw plenty of early tape on Hayward throughout his college career.
If the market begins to settle and the prices for the remaining cornerbacks drop, it will be interesting to see if Dorsey is interested in adding Hayward to the mix. Hayward isn't going to replace Sean Smith on the outside. After a limited run outside in 2015, the Packers quickly moved Hayward back inside as a slot corner where he thrives. The Chiefs would likely want to do the same.
If Hayward is open for taking slot corner money, and the market seems to be setting such expectations for him, it will likely come down to a cost analysis for Dorsey. The uncertainty of whether Steven Nelson will develop and/or Phillip Gaines will be healthy for Week 1 versus the added cost of bringing in a veteran from the outside. If the Chiefs seem interested in Hayward in the coming days, we'll know our answer.