Oakland Raiders D.J. Hayden ruled out of preseason opener

Wearing the red “no contact” jersey throughout training camp, the status of Raiders first round draft pick D.J. Hayden has been one of the most discussed storylines out of Napa this summer. Dennis Allen confirmed with the media that Hayden would appear at some juncture of the preseason as a guarantee, but up until Monday there was no official word on whether that would be Week One against Dallas or at a late point of the preseason schedule.

Now it is confirmed that Raider fans will have to wait a little while longer to see a player who has the potential to be the cornerstone of the Raiders defense for years to come.

There was a bit of a scare with Hayden Monday at practice when the corner came up lame in no contact coverage drills. He was taken out of drills to work with a trainer but returned minutes later when the team went into team sessions.

Coach Allen commented on Hayden’s status to the media after practice.

“Really the only injury update is D.J. Hayden who’s got a little bit of a hamstring,” said Dennis Allen. “We’ll see where he’s at when we come back to work on Wednesday. . . DJ won’t play in the game against Dallas so we’ll kinda reevaluate where we’re at with him after that.

“It’s really more of a relation to the surgery he had this off-season as opposed to the heart condition.”

It is at least good news that Hayden is missing due to a minor injury as opposed to rehab for his heart condition, the main reason teams shied away from Hayden in the draft this year. Reggie McKenzie sees the obvious potential in Hayden, it is only a matter of time before he gets the chance to showcase that. For now Raider fans will have to wait.

In other injury news for Friday’s Raiders-Cowboys preseason meeting, ProFootballTalk reported Monday that Tony Romo confirmed to Cowboys beat writers that he would be playing Friday after sitting out of the Hall of Fame Game