Cowboys Connection: Sign Ex All-Pro Cornerback Hayward?

Casey Hayward Jr. can now be added to the Dallas Cowboys Connections” free agency wish list.

FRISCO - Casey Hayward Jr. - labeled “the ultimate professional” by the Chargers team that just released him - can now be added to the Dallas Cowboys Connections” free agency wish list.

The cornerback spent five seasons with the Chargers after signing as a free agent in 2016, but before that, he was a 2012 second-round pick in Green Bay, where he was coached by ...

Mike McCarthy and Joe Whitt.

McCarthy is now of course the head coach of the defense-starved Dallas Cowboys, and Whitt is the new top defensive assistant under just-hired coordinator Dan Quinn.

All of that puts Hayward Jr. on Dallas’ target list.

Hayward, 5-11, 190, was a team captain, a Chargers 'Walter Payton Man of the Year'' winner, is an iron man (he missed a game in 2020 to snap streak of 107 consecutive games played) and is a ballhawk, having record six and seven interceptions in two of his seasons and 23 in his nine-year career.

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And of course Dallas is prepared for change at cornerback with Trevon Diggs at the top of the depth chart but with Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis bound for free agency, which starts at 11 a.m. CT on Monday (when negotiations can open) and Wednesday at 3 p.m. CT (when signings can become official).

Additionally, the Cowboys, picking at No. 10 in the April NFL Draft, have a chance to select the best cornerback in the class.

Hayward is 31, and it is argued that his skills in coverage have declined. (The Chargers save $9 million of cap room with the cut.). Surely he’s not the player he was when was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2016 and '17. But assuming he doesn’t come with a top-shelf price tag? This is one to watch, because he’s a classy guy ... and because he’s a McCarthy/Whitt guy.

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