The Bucs sought to get faster in the 2023 NFL Draft. To quote a former president, “Mission Accomplished.” Defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, offensive lineman Cody Mauch, edge rusher YaYa Diaby and linebacker SirVocea Dennis all scored very high in speed metrics for their position groups. And you can count sixth-round pick Josh Hayes to that list as well.

Hayes’ 4.47 second 40-yard dash scored an 8.83 out of 10 on Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Score metric. His 10 and 20-yard splits also proved to be solid scores.

Josh Hayes was drafted with pick 181 of round 6 in the 2023 draft class. He scored a 4.82 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 507 out of 976 FS from 1987 to 2023. https://t.co/JM2paZSOFl pic.twitter.com/h3dfntmEMN

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 29, 2023

Hayes’ straight-line speed is where his athletic prowess ends. Hayes’ explosive and agility scores both graded out as poor.

Josh Hayes’ Tape

Josh Hayes’ tape supports his testing. He has good speed, especially when coming down field. There are multiple examples of this is in this highlight reel from Kansas State’s Week 2 matchup against Missouri last year.

At the 2:39 mark, Hayes (No. 1) reads the jet sweep and gets into the backfield quickly blowing up the run for a loss. Similarly, at the 5:20 mark Hayes comes downfield and blows up the RPO run for a loss.

And you can see it again as he battles through the bunch to blowup a wide receiver screen.

The majority of Hayes’ best plays are of a similar ilk. He is at his best in pursuit of ballcarriers, punishing them as he transfers his speed into punishing power.

Josh Hayes Shows Glimpses Of Coverage Ability

The Bucs are going to give Hayes a shot to cross-train as a nickel defensive back in the slot and at safety. These roles are not dissimilar to his role at Kansas State in 2022. As a Wildcat, Hayes played 86 snaps lined up as a deep safety and 508 as a slot corner. He posted a 64.4 coverage grade per Pro Football Focus. Earlier in his career he had elevated coverage grades at North Dakota State in 2018 through 2020.

On his best plays in coverage, it is Hayes’ instincts that stand out the most. Working from the slot on this play he is able to quickly diagnose the receiver’s stop route and pinch down on it while getting his eyes in the backfield to read the quarterback’s throw and almost grabbing the interception by fighting through the receiver for the ball.

And you see it again with him in deep coverage as he once again gets his eyes on the quarterback after his receiver breaks at the post and undercuts the route for the pass breakup.

When Hayes is in coverage he is at his best when he can properly anticipate route developments to the point where he can read and react to the quarterback’s decisions.

Josh Hayes Has To Improve His Tackling

Watch any game that Hayes has played in and a common theme you are most likely going to see from him is missed tackles. I am sure the Bucs decision makers identified this as one of his biggest opportunities when they scouted him. In his last season in college Hayes was credited with 21 missed tackles and an incredibly high 21.9% missed tackle rate.

That was top-10 among cornerbacks who were draft eligible this season. These missed tackles aren’t the result of Hayes being run over by large-bodied running backs despite solid tackling form.

No, Hayes’ missed tackles are a result of his lack of wrapping and his tendency to over pursue. Take a look at a couple of examples from Kansas States game against Tulane last year.

Hayes does a good job of getting downhill quickly, but instead of using the sideline as an additional defender and shading to the inside on the receiver, Hayes instead over-commits to the outside and ends up over pursuing on the receiver’s move to the inside.

Very much like the previous play, Hayes over pursues allowing the quarterback to run through his one-arm tackle attempt. The Bucs coaching staff is going to have to teach him to break down in a more balanced fashion to deal with cuts better because the quality of athlete he is going to face in the NFL is only going to go up.

Josh Hayes’ Path To Success

Bucs DB Josh Hayes Photo By: USA Today

I have serious reservations about Hayes’ ability to be a successful slot defender at the NFL level. He is high in his back pedal and slow to transition out of it. And his lateral movements are slow. I have trouble believing he is going to keep up with shifty slot receivers who have quick explosive cuts.

However, as a box safety who plays downhill mainly in run support is a role I think Hayes can play adequately over time. If the Bucs coaching staff can maintain a defined role for him where he is mainly asked to play zone coverages that leverage his long speed while asking him to aid in run support from a box role Hayes can play a supporting role in a successful defense.

All of that will hinge on his ability to improve his tackling technique. The bottom line for right now is that Hayes presents an opportunity to be a special teams contributor as the Bucs try to develop him into a possible starter along with fellow rookie Chris Izien from Rutgers. For a sixth-round pick you can’t ask for much more in terms of a ceiling.