DJ Hayden is entering perhaps his final season with the Raiders.

The 2013 first-round pick hasn’t lived up to his No. 12 overall pick status and the team declined to pick up his fifth-year option earlier this month, which would’ve guaranteed him about $8 million in salary for the 2017 season.

Early indications from the team’s opening OTA session Tuesday is he’ll get first crack at the nickel spot, which can spend a lot of time on the field given today’s offenses.

Sean Smith, the Raiders’ new $40 million starting cornerback, thinks Hayden can reinvent himself.

“I tell all the guys, regardless of who you are, myself included, the past is the past,” Smith said. “The thing about football is you can always reinvent yourself.

“I had a chance to meet with him just for a brief second. There wasn’t too much to talk about, ‘Just come out here with a whole new mind frame, a whole new mindset, trying to repaint your image.’”

Hayden has shown the occasional flash of solid play when he’s had a little confidence behind him. One example would be last year’s game at San Diego.

During the week, defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. praised him with an eye-popping comment that Hayden was “really growing into one of the better corners in the league.”

Hayden responded with a solid game that included an interception of Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers. By the end of last season though, Hayden’s playing time had gone downhill.

From Smith’s view though, if Hayden can put his sub-par first three seasons behind him, he still has a chance to have a future.

“You come out here and work, compete and try to get better,” Smith said. “As long as you put it on tape, you’ll always have a job in this league. So, he has nothing to worry about.”