The Green Bay Packers haven’t contacted cornerback Casey Hayward about a new contract and it doesn’t sound like he expects them to.
The 26-year-old will get his first go at unrestricted free agency in March.
“They normally wait til closer to the deadline,” Hayward told Rob Demovsky. “But we shall see. I’ll probably hit the market.”
While it’s true that the Packers are often scrambling right up until the eve of free agency to get contracts done, they usually start negotiations with their high-priority targets well before then.
This is a clear sign that they intend to let Hayward test the market and that likely means he’s gone.
The Packers took the same approach with cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Davon House in 2015 and lost them both. Green Bay’s situation is quite a bit different this time around, though.
Losing Williams and House left a great deal of uncertainly in the Packers’ secondary. Ted Thompson plugged those holes by drafting Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins in the first two rounds of the draft. He also found an undrafted gem in LaDarius Gunter.
In other words, the Packers are very well equipped to lose a cornerback in free agency this offseason.
In fact, the play of Randall and Rollins as rookies makes this decision pretty easy.
Although Hayward is primarily a slot corner, we could envision him signing a deal similar to the four-year, $24.5 million contract House got in Jacksonville. To put it simply, Hayward has a stronger body of work now than House did then.
Also, remember that Thompson loves draft picks and letting Hayward walk in free agency will likely net a decent compensatory selection in 2017.