Casey Hayward: Who cares what the outside thinks…

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The Falcons’ trade of Matt Ryan left them with a lot of dead money on the salary cap for the 2022 season and that decision signaled that the focus for the franchise in the near future is going to be on rebuilding the roster for brighter days down the road.

That’s not necessarily an appealing situation for veteran free agents to join, but cornerback Casey Hayward agreed to a deal with the team before that deal was made and he said on Thursday that he hasn’t shifted his mindset to one of a rebuilding team. Hayward was asked about being in a situation without a great chance to win and took issue with the premise of the question by saying that you “never know how these things pan out.”

“We’re grown men, we’re going out there to try to win each and every game no matter how people view the roster or not,” Hayward said. “For me, I just go out there and compete no matter if people think we can win or can’t win. Our goal is to go out there and try to win every game. Not saying that we will, but that’s the goal so who cares what the outside thinks about the roster and things like that. Maybe we don’t win games and maybe we do, but our goal is to win them.”

Hayward’s mindset is the one you’d expect a player to carry with him into a season and that approach should make the Falcons tougher to face come the fall, but the makeup of the team still signals rough sailing is ahead in Atlanta.