Former Oakland Raiders cornerback D.J. Hayden was among six people killed in a car crash early Saturday morning in Houston. He was 33.
Houston police said early Saturday morning that a Chrysler 300 ran a red light at a high rate of speed and collided with an Acura SUV. Four people were pronounced dead at the scene and four people were transported to a hospital. Two of the four taken to a hospital later died from their injuries and a woman suffered life-threatening injuries.
Houston TV station KHOU said the University of Houston confirmed that Hayden was one of the people killed in the crash, while the Houston Chronicle reported that Hayden’s former University of Houston teammates Zach McMillian and Ralph Oragwu were also killed. Per the Chronicle, a fourth former player, Jeffrey Lewis, was injured in the crash. They were reportedly in the SUV.
Police said the female driver of the Chrysler was one of those who died at the scene.
Hayden was a first-round pick of the Raiders in 2013 and played four seasons with the team. He spent a season in Detroit in 2017 before playing three seasons for Jacksonville and appearing in 14 games for the Washington Commanders in 2021.
He finished his nine-year NFL career with four interceptions and four forced fumbles and tallied 328 tackles over 92 games.
Hayden’s path to the NFL was an improbable one after he suffered a freak injury during a practice at Houston in November of 2012. As Hayden went to defend a pass, a teammate’s knee hit his chest.
In a story detailed by Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab in 2013, Houston athletic trainer Mike O’Shea called 911 not long after the play. After paramedics arrived, he was taken directly to a trauma center where doctors discovered and repaired Hayden’s vena cava. The vein that carries blood from the lower half of the body to the heart had torn in the hit.
From the 2013 story:
There is a 95 percent fatality rate with that injury, which is usually seen in car accidents. That injury had never happened on a football field before, and the hit that produced it wasn’t unusual. Had any of the above steps changed, the resulting delay would have been fatal. He was minutes from dying.
Hayden was historically unlucky and then lucky beyond belief, all in the same afternoon.
“The more you talk about it, the more unbelievable it is,” O’Shea said.
Hayden didn’t play during the rest of the 2012 season as he recovered from the surgery but was healthy enough to participate in Houston’s pro day. He ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash at his pro day and that, along with his performance on the field at Houston, was more than enough to convince the Raiders to take him in the first round.
McMillian was a teammate of Hayden’s with the Cougars and had 10 interceptions over the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The four-year contributor had 154 tackles per 49 games with the Cougars and had 31 passes defensed. Oragwu played at Houston from 2009-13 before transferring to Marshall.
