2012 Draft - Round 2, Pick 30, Overall 62 - Casey Hayward, CB, Vanderbilt

Never heard of him, but Gruden seemed really high on him.

Sure is a little fella!

GREAT GREAT PICK!
He's a perfect CB for our system.
Has the perfect size (not a 5-9 midget), and he knows how to play the ball.
He's also not afraid to lay the wood.

Teddy Hit the Trifecta in the last 22 Hours with Studs at each level of our defense!


POSITIONS - CB
PlayerSchoolTeamRoundPickGrade
Morris Claiborne LSU Cowboys 1 6 (6) 3.35
Stephon Gilmore South Carolina Bills 1 10 (10) 3.13
Dre Kirkpatrick Alabama Bengals 1 17 (17) 3.11
Casey Hayward Vanderbilt Packers 2 31 (62) 2.95
Janoris Jenkins North Alabama Rams 2 7 (39) 2.93
Jayron Hosley Virginia Tech 2.92
Trumaine Johnson Montana 2.90
Alfonzo Dennard Nebraska 2.86
Josh Robinson Central Florida 2.78


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/draft-2012/breakdowns/by_position/CB.html#ixzz1tIHLGoRL

He's a ballhawk. He'll fit right in. His reported 40 speed is slower than Perry's by about .1 seconds though. All in all, I like how the first 2 rounds have went for us.

Thank you, TT! I was afraid that we would just sit back and pick the best player available. Great to see
him get aggressive by moving up to fill exactly what our defense needed. Not to mention we still have
two 4th rounders to pickup a center/guard and RB.

I was worried that he was picking too much of need and not BPA but after thinking about it he is doing both by moving around so much. Once again TT is showing why I do not fear the moves we make in the offseason because he does know the best ways to make the team better.

What a nice draft. TT has done what we all hoped for without selling the farm.

Scouting Report
Hayward has been the unquestioned leader of the Commodores’ defensive unit since joining the starting lineup prior to his sophomore campaign. With his quick feet and hip flexibility, he has done an excellent job of not only mirroring the receivers and disrupting his opponent’s route progression, but has been the “ultimate savior” with his big play ability. His ability to track the ball in flight, along with outstanding leaping ability, has seen him consistently win battles to get to the ball vs. much taller receivers.
Commentary
While selecting Hayward late in the second round may have been a tad high, there are a lot of reasons to love this pick. For starters, Hayward has the ability to completely shutdown receivers. He is athletic with great hands and the ability to make plays after the catch. As a cornerback, he is a solid pick.
However, what makes Hayward even a better pick is the fact that the Packers could decide to try him out as free safety and see if he has what it takes to replace Nick Collins. Even though Hayward is a little undersized, he hits with great power and his playmaking abilities are very similar to Collins. It’s likely that we’ll see Hayward on the field early in his career.

I think they might convert him to a safety due to his lack of speed and his very good tackling ability.

Scouting report on Casey Hayward. CLUE: I think you'll like reading this: http://packersinsider.com/2012/04/casey-hayward-cb-vanderbilt/

The move to safety is an interesting possibility:

CBS Sportsline lists Casey Hayward at 6'0" and 185lbs. (ESPN lists him at 5'11" and 188lbs.)

CBS Sportsline lists Nick Collins at 5'11" and 207lbs. (I didn't see height/weight on ESPN's player card for Collins)

Hayward is probably going to have to bulk up a bit in order to make the move.

great choice i think he will play both early and often. seen him in hs. best player on the field. everyone knows the sec turns out top notch players plus he is not a knucklehead

I think almost all our DBs need to bulk up. We must like the lean frail guys..... Tramon, Shields, Brandon Underwood was frail. Davon House is very thin..... is it any wonder why our tackling back there was so awful?

We need to feed these guys some more stuff that helps add muscle.
At least Perry is a good 20-pounds bulkier than Matthews already.

They tackled just fine the year before that, even though they were just as frail/lean

don't worry not only can casey run but he can bring the wood when needed

Well not as badly, but it was not as apparent as the pass-rush and DL was better, which resulted in the DB's not being as exposed as they were last year.

I remember Collins as a rookie.... liked how he put on some muscle, yet remained quick.
I'd love to see the CB's add similar muscle as I think it helps.
Teddy obviously likes his CB's taller though.

Our CBs also weren't playing so much off coverage that year, like they did this last year

Last year the secondary really shifted to more zone. Hayward is a zone CB. Wonder if this reflects a permanent shift in our scheme. I prefer bump and run in a pass heavy league. More disruptive.

Edit: I'm seeing reports that the Packers plan to use him at CB...

So I guess C. Woodson makes the move to safety? I think it would only make sense and with Hayward, Tramon, Sam Shields and Davon House we now have pretty good depth at CB. I would expect Morgan Burnett to also improve significantly given that last year was pretty much his first year as a starter.

Don't like the idea of Woodson as a Safety: He's better near the line of scrimmage and it seems desperate to relocate an aging vet into a position where he needs to cover large amounts of ground quickly and deliver big hits...

I have a feeling there is going to be some nice competition for the dime back and even possibly the nickle-back between Shields/House/Hayward. House was expected to significantly improve this next season. I still really like Houses' size. I think he's our biggest CB behind Charles Woodson. Great mentors to learn under for the young guys, as well, despite the down season last year.