This is good stuff and if people paid more attention [Don’t want to say “educate themselves”] they would possess a better understanding of 1265's moves. They’d have more ability to judge 1265’s decisions by seeing what 1265 sees.

Let’s talk Hayward to drive home the value of this idea.

Look at those drills with the pink boards. This is what Casey Hayward refused to do 100% of the time. After 4 years in GB about half of the time he got beat, his feet went outside the lane too early on his back peddle. Hayward was average to slightly below given his refusal to play with disciplined technique; though he’d have been pretty to really good if he played with discipline.

Hayward’s Punch, which is also talked about here was technically okay, but it was as if he was powerless, it rarely stunned or re-directed the WR.

So was GB stupid for letting him go, after he stop ascending and refused to play with discipline or learn an effective punch after 4 years? Do you want to make an undisciplined player a leader, someone the rooks look-up to, by giving him a 2nd contract? Everyone is bitching about lack of accountability; well GB held Hayward accountable and it was a sound football decision. Expecting his attitude to suddenly change after 4 years by giving him 5M per would be unwise to outright stupid. Right? GB made a 100% smart decision given the circumstances at the time. And the other 31 teams agreed, a CB with Hayward talent gets a lot more than 3x5M [with only 6M guaranteed] unless there’s a problem. SD had extra cap space and gambled 1 yr for 6M.

I haven’t watched much tape on him, but what I saw, which correlates to his apparent jump in success, is that Hayward decided to play with discipline on his backpeddle and his punch became much more effective. So did he hit the weight room harder? Did his punch get more powerful because he employed his hips better [Many youngsters punch with their arms, but the power of the punch actually comes from using the hips]? Whatever occurred Hayward underwent a major attitude change in 1 year at SD.

So why couldn’t GB get the most out of Hayward? I dare anyone to blame Joe Whitt. It could be a lot of things. Psychologists say the Sun makes people happier; so maybe the difference in weather shored up his attitude. Maybe he’s happier living in cosmopolitan California as opposed to being subjected to a mono-cultured provincial NE Wisconsin. Or maybe when his mom died of breast cancer in July, a few months after signing his deal in SD, Hayward grew up, became a man and approached his job like a mature professional. Maybe it’s a combo of things.

The casual fan sees GB not resigning a pro bowl type CB for peanuts, one we could really use. They can only assume that Ted in the Hayward case [and Gutekunst next] has lost his mind because they don’t understand what teams use to evaluate a player’s value to the team under the cap.

Originally Posted by: Barfarn