D.J. Hayden may have found a role with the Oakland Raiders

Dec 6, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders cornerback D.J. Hayden (25) during an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs at O.co Coliseum. The Chiefs defeated the Raiders 34-20. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Oakland Raiders 2013 1st-round pick D.J. Hayden is just weeks away from officially being a bust. He’s the most picked on corner in the league and quarterbacks have great success going his way. And this is year three for Hayden so the word bust was soon to be attached to his name.

Hayden isn’t going to become another Darrelle Revis over the last four weeks of the season. But it looks like he may have found something he’s good at, giving him an important role on the team. You can say it tantamount to 2004 1st-round pick Robert Gallery moving from left tackle, where he was horrible, to guard where he was pretty good.

Hayden’s journey started at outside corner and this year, he seemed to only get worse every game. Then he was benched against the Tennessee Titans in favor of David Amerson the Raiders’ coverage got better. Then Neiko Thorpe was injured and Hayden was brought in to play slot-corner against the Kansas City Chiefs last week.

You don’t draft slot-corners in the first round but he actually looked like a 1st-round pick while playing there. Instead of getting relentlessly picked on, Hayden provided tight coverage, was only thrown at once and it was incomplete. So now, we’re left to wonder if Hayden finally has found himself a role with the Raiders.

We’ll know more a month from now.