DJ Hayden looking good this Spring

He’s had a tough time in Oakland, but Jack Del Rio seems high on him. He’s in line to start in the slot if things go well:

Del Rio had high praise for Hayden at minicamp on Thursday:
“DJ Hayden had a really good spring, he really did. He got a little tweak yesterday, but nothing major. I’m excited about his development. He has terrific foot quickness and he is intelligent, so those things are definitely factors that help in the slot.”

Good, I was worried he was going to be released after this year but maybe he has jsut had to get over the injury bug. Thanks for sharing.

I’m not a young athlete, but I will tell you a heart attack takes a while to get over – as much as you can get over it. I haven’t a clue how long it takes to fully recover from the kind of injury and surgery DJ went through. The the blood vessel itself was not the only damage he suffered. There was trauma to the heart and the whole chest was opened to allow for the surgery. You don’t recover from that like a scope job on the knee.

I suspect that DJ has not been at 100% for most of the time at Oakland and is finally coming around. I wonder there was some mental aspect to it also.

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A chest that is cracked open for surgery is never the same again. The physical and mental limitation is substantial for many people. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if DJ is just now back to the level he was before the injury.