Welcome Josh Hayes (DB- Kansas St)

[Snake]

Who

[Snake]

Wasn’t at the combine.

Josh Hayes, CB
Strengths: Underrated cornerback who started his college career at North Dakota State. Instinctive, immediately picks up coverage assignments, and shows good anticipation. Quickly locates the ball in the air, takes proper angles, and is constantly around the action.

Feisty, mixes it up with opponents, and sticks with receivers everywhere on the field. Quick flipping his hips in transition, stays on the receiver’s hip, and tracks the pass in the air. Displays a burst to the ball out of his plant and gets a hand in to knock away passes. Physical and does not back down from a challenge.

Weaknesses: Deep speed is an issue. Lacks great lateral speed and cannot get to the sidelines in time. Must improve his backpedal.


Overall: Hayes was a productive collegiate defensive back for Kansas State as well as North Dakota State. Speed is an issue, but he possesses enough ability to line up as a dime back in a zone system that restricts his area assignments.

[Phantom]

Yep, we definitely need a cb

[Bootz]

Didn't get a combine invite. 24 this year. Slow.

[Navybuc]

We need those practice squad bodies.

[Snake]

We need those practice squad bodies.

I know we’re at the end here, but I’d rather bet on an athlete.

[Grahamburn]

We’re in the 6th round here, fellas. These guys have warts.

[Redrum]

Not a fan. Looks handsy.

[Snake]

NO. 5 PROSPECT

NAME: Josh Hayes (FS)

DRAFTSCOUT PROJECTION: HPFA (High Priority Free Agent)

CAREER STATISTICS: Hayes spent his time at North Dakota State and Virginia before transferring to Kansas State before the 2022 season. He would play in all 15 games with the Bison during his freshman season in 2017. He would continue to see action on the field in 2018 where he registered 28 tackles, one tackle for loss and three pass breakups.

Hayes continued to be a focal point for the Bison secondary during the 2019 season as he would earn Second Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors after tallying 59 tackles and 12 passes defended, including two interceptions. In 2020, he would finish the year with 30 tackles before transferring to Virginia.


During his time with the Cavaliers, he would only see game action in three contests. Green would record at tackles during Virginia’s game against Louisville.

THE TRUTH: According to draft scouts, Hayes is currently listed as a HPFA5 (which means he is the fifth best free agent situation coming out of Kansas State). Hayes has experience at playing both at the cornerback and safety position during his collegiate career. His versatility will be able to impress scouts and leapfrog him into his name being called this spring.

[Miller4Prez64]

[Snake]

Rams took Hodges-Tomlinson one pick later.

[Grahamburn]

That’s damning.

[Snake]

Lol

Here’s hoping they know something!

[BuccaNOLEer]

We’re in the 6th round here, fellas. These guys have warts.

Keyshon Boutte. All world WR at LSU. Slipped all the way to the sixth round. First round talent. Licht passes on him to draft a slow undersized CB.

[Grahamburn]

We’re in the 6th round here, fellas. These guys have warts.

Keyshon Boutte. All world WR at LSU. Slipped all the way to the sixth round. First round talent. Licht passes on him to draft a slow undersized CB.

Maybe he’s a scumbag? :shrug:

[BuccaNOLEer]

Keyshon Boutte. All world WR at LSU. Slipped all the way to the sixth round. First round talent. Licht passes on him to draft a slow undersized CB.

Maybe he’s a scumbag? :shrug:

That's why he dropped to the sixth round. He didn't see eye to eye when the new coach came in from Notre Dame. As a result, he got branded with a bad attitude.

Licht is in a precarious position and needs to gamble with guys like him. Hopefully his drop to the sixth round will give him an attitude adjustment because now he's expendable

[Navybuc]

Just watched some highlights from TCU game. Damn he was getting burnt. I can see why he was 89th best CB.

[Doctor]

We’re in the 6th round here, fellas. These guys have warts.

Keyshon Boutte. All world WR at LSU. Slipped all the way to the sixth round. First round talent. Licht passes on him to draft a slow undersized CB.

This. Maybe the dude is a total off-the-board scumbag but he was totally my pick for being the Chris Watson of this draft. Really wanted him.

[NeezDuts]

Sounds likea great pick

[Babeinbucland]

We’re in the 6th round here, fellas. These guys have warts.

<ahem> <cough cough>

[Grahamburn]

We’re in the 6th round here, fellas. These guys have warts.

<ahem> <cough cough>

I’m sure you don’t have warts.

[Cheb]

If you look for games from Julius Brents on youtube, you'll find Hayes' stuff.

First of all, Josh Hayes ain't a corner by nature, he's a safety through and through. He needs to drop his ass in his backpedal and I can see the concerns about his speed on grass (couldn't find results from KSU's pro day), but he shows some admirable traits. He isn't elite in any aspect, but he seems solid in most. He follows his keys, doesn't seem to make mental fuckups, and makes the routine plays he is supposed to be making. As such, I don't see him threatening to start anytime soon, but he should contribute to specials as a rookie and hopefully we can coach him up into being a candidate for third safety duties. Asking him to be a nickel cornerback is imo a very bad idea, as I could see him getting burned like MJ Stewart for the exact same reasons.

Imagine if you ordered Brian Branch from wish.com; Josh Hayes would be what you got in the mail.

[Doctor]

Imagine if you ordered Brian Branch from wish

Just don't...

[Babeinbucland]

Lol

[IchabodCrane84]

This is Geno Hayes nephew

[MJW]

Seems like a guy we could have gotten as an UDFA.

But at the same time, these draftniks don't work for NFL teams. We don't know what the actual NFL community thinks about him, or what Licht was hearing. And the 6th/7th is where teams should be targeting the guys they don't want to potentially miss out on as UDFAs. So I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

[mdb1958]

Seems like a guy we could have gotten as an UDFA.

But at the same time, these draftniks don't work for NFL teams. We don't know what the actual NFL community thinks about him, or what Licht was hearing. And the 6th/7th is where teams should be targeting the guys they don't want to potentially miss out on as UDFAs. So I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

Why do you designate a player CB or DB cuz NFL.com says only 6 players got picked as DB's, with Sydney Brown the only one with a grade.

[Doctor]

This guy has the making of our next Jordan Whitehead, Mike Edwards, type. I can see him moving to safety to compete but more so really crafting out a role as our dime DB, which really plays to his strengths and minimizes his weaknesses. Remember, if Nickle is the new base then Dime is the new Nickle.

[Barnzy]

PFF rated him as one of the 5 biggest reaches in the entire draft:

ROUND 6: CB JOSH HAYES, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Pick: 181
PFF Big Board: Unranked
If you go back to his days at North Dakota State, there may be something to work with for Hayes. At that level, he finished the 2020 season with PFF grades of 92.3 and 73.0 in run defense and coverage, respectively. However, from 473 snaps in coverage at Kansas State this past season, he allowed a catch on 62.5% of the targets he faced, including allowing five touchdowns.

This guy is meant to be our nickel? Lol

[Snake]

Yeah I’d bet tree fiddy he’ll be the starting NB.

[Doctor]

We're really hyped on Zyon McCollum are rightfully so imo. Hayes will likely get rotational snaps in that S/NB hybrid role we like.

[Snake]

Poor kid. I'm moving him up a few spots in my CTE death pool.

“I grew up running into trees – for real. My dad had me out in the yard, just running into trees,” Hayes said Saturday ahead of the Bucs’ second rookie mini camp practice. “You know, not being afraid of making contact with stuff. Understanding how that would feel. And I’ve been that way since I was 8, 9 years old when I started playing football. Just being able to make contact and not being afraid of that feeling you get when you do make that, I think I’ve kind of had that since I was a little kid.

“We play an aggressive game, we play football. Being able to actually be aggressive, not afraid of contact and stuff like that, it’s part of the game.”

You read that correctly, by the way. Just in case you’re unclear on what Hayes means by “running into trees,” he clarified further.

“Hitting trees with my shoulder,” he said. “ probably 10 years old when I really told [my dad] football is what I want to do. He was like ‘All right, this is a part of it. Contact is a part of it.’ We had a nice little oak tree in the back and we just kind of set up five, ten yards away and just ran into it. The first few times, it sucked, but I got used to it after a while.”

[Grahamburn]

Like Jean Claude Van Damme in Kickboxer.

[MJW]

Poor kid. I'm moving him up a few spots in my CTE death pool.

“I grew up running into trees – for real. My dad had me out in the yard, just running into trees,” Hayes said Saturday ahead of the Bucs’ second rookie mini camp practice. “You know, not being afraid of making contact with stuff. Understanding how that would feel. And I’ve been that way since I was 8, 9 years old when I started playing football. Just being able to make contact and not being afraid of that feeling you get when you do make that, I think I’ve kind of had that since I was a little kid.

“We play an aggressive game, we play football. Being able to actually be aggressive, not afraid of contact and stuff like that, it’s part of the game.”

You read that correctly, by the way. Just in case you’re unclear on what Hayes means by “running into trees,” he clarified further.

“Hitting trees with my shoulder,” he said. “ probably 10 years old when I really told [my dad] football is what I want to do. He was like ‘All right, this is a part of it. Contact is a part of it.’ We had a nice little oak tree in the back and we just kind of set up five, ten yards away and just ran into it. The first few times, it sucked, but I got used to it after a while.”

This is the sort of thing people who hate football think of when they think of the kinds of people who love football. That's the stupidest thing I've ever read and apparently nobody has ever told him.

[Cheb]

Poor kid. I'm moving him up a few spots in my CTE death pool.

This is the sort of thing people who hate football think of when they think of the kinds of people who love football. That's the stupidest thing I've ever read and apparently nobody has ever told him.

It's just going to be fodder for when he inevitably misses a tackle or flubs an assignment. *Insert running into oak tree joke here*