TOUGH WHEN CORNERED : If Raider Mike Haynes Is Slipping, He Doesn’t Give Ground Easily

If it’s a summer day in the late 1980s, the Hall of Famer-to-be in the Raider cross hairs must be their very own cornerback nonpareil Mike Haynes, a gazelle who has been hunted throughout his career but only recently by hunters from so close to home.

Nor is Haynes the only great on the grate.

A new cost-conscious breeze stirs feathers up and down the Raider roster. A whole wing of Hall of Fame aspirants face question-mark futures: Todd Christensen, a pass-catching tight end with a coach who seems to prefer blockers; James Lofton, playing only in three-receiver sets and feeling the hot breath of younger, cheaper Mike Alexander.

All three veterans were exposed in the Plan B free agency period. All are 33 or older and making $725,000 or more a season, and none was tendered an offer.

There’s a moral here, Peter Pan.

Don’t grow up.

“I wouldn’t say it hurts,” Haynes said. “It’s reality. You can’t play this game forever. More than anything else, it psyches me up. It’s more of a challenge.”

More than a cornerback, many would call Haynes the cornerback. In the post-bump ‘n’ run days, when the species changed from the Willie Brown-Mel Blount-Lester Hayes muggers to men who could run with the sprint champions lining up against them, Haynes taught the world to play the position. He was the standard by which all others were judged.

As recently as the 1987 Super Bowl, when Denver’s Pro Bowl safety, Dennis Smith, was asked to explain a slump, he said: “Mike Haynes gets beat.”

Haynes made the Pro Bowl nine times--in every full season he played between his rookie year of 1976 and 1986. He has lasted 13 years. What that gives him is a birth certificate that says he’s 36, a contract for $825,000 and an employer keenly interested in finding out if he has slipped.

The word went out a year ago that Haynes, coming off two injury-truncated seasons, was about to be beaten out by Lionel Washington and cut by Al Davis. Haynes played well in the final exhibition, kept his job, avoided injury for all 16 starts and turned in a solid season.

Nevertheless, the word went out again last week in camp: Haynes has slipped. Washington might run him off, and if Lionel can’t, Mike Richardson, the Plan B signee from Mike Ditka’s Chicago Bear doghouse, might. Coach Mike Shanahan made it all but official, listing Haynes’ left-corner spot as competitive.

“I read about it,” says Haynes, leaning against a chain-link fence. He is grinning, typically gracious, typically unruffled, if not wholly delighted by the subject.

“I guess it’s nothing I shouldn’t expect at this point of my career. I think every year that I play, it’s going to be the same situation.

“I feel pretty good about last season. I didn’t have a great year, but I had a good year. I was solid.”

How did the process affect him a year ago?

“I guess I didn’t let it affect me. . . . I can’t control the situation anyway, so there’s no reason for me to worry about it. Mike (Shanahan) never said anything to me about it, and none of the defensive coaches ever said anything to me about it. So there’s no reason to dwell on it. So I, basically, like everybody else, tried to keep learning and tried to improve every day.”

Lester Hayes used to like to say that if he could just sit back in a zone, like that LeRoy Irvin guy, he could play until he was 60. This would be no less true for Haynes, who as a Raider has had to live up to the ultimate and rarest of tests, straight, almost unrelieved man-to-man coverage, in which one’s mistakes often appear on the scoreboard in increments of six.

This season, under new defensive coordinator Dave Adolph, the Raiders will be mixing their coverages more. This will make life easier for Haynes, providing he’s around to play it.

Nevertheless, on Saturday, the Dallas Cowboys twice caught Haynes in single coverage. The first time, they ran young, fast Michael Irvin at him on a fly pattern . . . but Haynes batted the pass down.

Then they sent smaller, faster Kelvin Martin at him on another fly . . . and again Haynes knocked the ball away.

Richardson, the contender, was beaten twice for touchdowns.

It was only an inning and not the game, but anyone who wants to run the old gent off had best come early and bring his lunch.

Raider Notes

Coach Mike Shanahan announced two changes in the defensive lineup, one expected, one a surprise. Bob Golic replaces Bill Pickel at nose tackle, in a move that was anticipated. Otis Wilson replaces Linden King at outside linebacker in a move that was not. Wilson had reconstructive knee surgery a year ago and couldn’t work in pads for the first week of camp, but has progressed nicely since. . . . Pickel will still play in the Raiders’ four-man, pass-rushing line. He was converted from end to nose tackle in 1985 but his 6-5 height made him a poor fit, which was why the Raiders signed Golic, a running-down specialist.

Also, Terry McDaniel is expected to move up to the No. 1 left cornerback spot against the Houston Oilers in Oakland Saturday, replacing Mike Richarson . . . A correction: Quarterback Steve Beuerlein played against the Cowboys’ first string in Saturday night’s exhibition, not the third, as reported in Sunday’s editions.