BEREA: Nick Hayden pounced on the football in the end zone and celebrated his lone career touchdown by firing up an imaginary amplifier, playing air guitar, smashing the fictitious instrument and saluting the crowd.
Cleveland rocks and apparently the new Browns defensive lineman who’s been thrust into a starting role amid dire circumstances does, too.
The most notable fumble recovery of Hayden’s career came in 2013, his first of three seasons as a full-time starter for the Dallas Cowboys. He joined the Browns a week before training camp opened because they’re attempting to calm a potential crisis on their D-line.
“I’ve been through tons of adversity throughout my years in the NFL,” Hayden said Wednesday before the 11th practice of camp. “So nothing’s really new to me.”
Desmond Bryant suffered a season-ending torn pectoral muscle last month, and fellow projected starting defensive end John Hughes has missed the past seven practices because of what coach Hue Jackson has repeatedly described as a personal matter. The Browns haven’t disclosed any other information about Hughes’ ominous absence, and his camp has been silent. At this point, it’s fair to wonder whether Hughes will return to the team.
Since Hughes’ departure, the Browns have placed Hayden at left end on the starting D-line, where he’s joined two second-year players, nose tackle Danny Shelton and right end Xavier Cooper. Rookies Emmanuel Ogbah, who’s also training as an outside linebacker, and Carl Nassib are backing up Hayden and Cooper.
The makeshift line will receive its first audition in a real game setting when the Browns visit the Green Bay Packers in the preseason opener for both teams at 8 p.m. Friday.
“[Bryant and Hughes would be] big losses, but I definitely think we can be [good],” said Hayden, who started 15 games last season and compiled a career-high 54 tackles, two passes defensed and a fumble recovery. “We’re obviously young up front, so guys are going to need this preseason to get some experience and see what they can do from there.
“But I can see the potential. There’s a lot of great athletes with size, strength, speed. It’ll just be interesting to see how they do in the preseason.”
It’ll be interesting to see if Hayden, 30, can keep his end of the bargain as well. He started all but one game for the Cowboys during the past three years, but this will be the first time he has played in a 3-4 scheme. In his first seven NFL seasons, he played defensive tackle in a 4-3 system.
“There’s definitely different terminology and different ways to play techniques,” said Hayden, who played at the University of Wisconsin with Browns nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas. “So you’ve kind of got to learn them. But it’s like riding a bike — take the training wheels off and just get going again.
“I’m relentless. I’m going to get after it each play, play hurt if I’ve got to play hurt, play physical, just get after them. I’ll always be the one running to the ball. You’ll always see me going after the ball and just being a leader out there and helping the guys out as best as I can.”
Hayden was in NFL purgatory until the Browns signed him July 22. His contract with the Cowboys expired in March, and he didn’t know whether he’d catch on anywhere.
“If I’m done, I’m done, but obviously I still want to play,” Hayden, 6-foot-3 and 295 pounds, said of his thought process during the wait. “I still think I’ve got a couple more good years left in me. It was definitely a little nerve-racking not knowing what my future’s going to hold, but I was always confident that a team was going to call.”
Hayden stayed prepared by training at NX Level gym in Waukesha, Wis., which is close to his family’s home in Pewaukee. Brad Arnett, the owner of NX Level and its director of sports performance, is the longtime trainer of Houston Texans star defensive lineman J.J. Watt, another former Wisconsin player.
The waiting game isn’t new to Hayden. The Carolina Panthers, who drafted him in the sixth round in 2008, waived the journeyman after camp in 2011. He didn’t find another job until the Cincinnati Bengals picked him up in December. He spent camp with the Bengals in 2012, but they cut him after he suffered a high-ankle sprain.
“I remember he was a fierce competitor. He liked to play the game. He was tough. He worked hard, and he was one of our final cuts,” said Jackson, who was a secondary and assistant special teams coach with the Bengals in 2012. “So I kind of knew who he was when he came and worked out [here]. I kind of had a memory of what he did when he was there. So he works extremely hard, and I think football’s very important to him. He’s working to earn a spot on our football team.”
After the Bengals cut him, Hayden was out of the league for an entire season. He caught on with the Cowboys in 2013 and became a favorite of defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.
“That’s stuff you’ve just got to fight through,” Hayden said. “That’s what I’ve been doing throughout my whole career.”
Now the Browns hope Hayden can help them fight through their D-line woes.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.