The Raiders are crossing the country to face the Giants in Week 10 and they may be doing it without their first-round cornerback.
D.J. Hayden hurt his groin in practice on Wednesday and wasn’t able to go at all on Thursday, casting serious doubt on his ability to be part of the plan to thwart Eli Manning, Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks.
“He was able to finish practice [Wednesday],” Raiders coach Dennis Allen said, via ESPN.com. “I wasn’t really aware of it until after I got done in here with you guys, but he wasn’t able to go today, so we’ll have to evaluate him to see how he’s doing and see how quickly that thing responds.”
Like everyone else in the Raiders secondary, Hayden is coming off a rough game against the Eagles in Week Nine. If he can’t go, Phillip Adams would see an uptick in playing time as Oakland tries to keep this week’s NFC East foe from setting any milestones in the passing game.
Running back Darren McFadden remained out on Thursday after aggravating his hamstring injury against Philadelphia. There’s a good chance Rashad Jennings will be starting in the backfield come Sunday as a result.