Early Friday morning, the Detroit Lions, according to one of Adam Caplan’s sources, added D.J. Hayden to the fold:
#Lions agreed to terms on a 1-year deal up to $5.25 million with CB DJ Hayden, source said.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) March 10, 2017
Caplan of ESPN is reporting the deal to be a one-year “prove me” type contract worth up to $5.25 million. The verbiage of Caplan’s tweet lends credence to the idea it could be laden heavily with incentives. For both the Lions and Hayden, that seems to be best for business.
Hayden, out of the University of Houston, was the No. 12 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders. Since then, it’s been a bit of tumultuous career plagued by injuries for Hayden. He’s struggled to live up to the hype of being such a high draft pick, and he just hasn’t been able to stay on the field since his rookie season, missing 19 games in his four NFL seasons. Most recently, he was placed on injured reserve for a hamstring injury in December 2016.
Hayden has 161 tackles, three interceptions, 26 passes defended, three forced fumbles and one sack in his four seasons in the NFL.