We are breaking down the Notre Dame football prospects ahead of the NFL Draft which begins on Thursday, April 29th in Cleveland, Ohio. There will be no NFL Combine this year due to the pandemic. However, Notre Dame will hold its Pro Day on March 31st at 12:00 PM in South Bend.

Up first, a 5th-year senior whose career took a long and winding path that led him to being a grizzled veteran and one of the captains of the 2020 Fighting Irish.

SPECS

Name: Daelin Hayes
Position: DE/OLB
Height: 6-3 3/4 (per the Senior Bowl)
Weight: 261 (per the Senior Bowl)
Hometown: Belleville, MI

STATS

YEAR SOLO ASST TACKLES TFL SACK
2016 5 7 12 0.0 0
2017 17 13 30 6.5 3.0
2018 17 15 32 5.0 2.0
2019 5 1 6 3.0 1.0
2020 12 5 17 6.0 3.0
TOTAL 56 41 97 20.5 9.0

BIO:

Don’t sleep on Daelin Hayes’ pretty wild recruitment now. Once considered an absolute lock for Notre Dame, he committed to USC in late July of 2014, moved to California, but left the Trojans class in October 2015 in the wake of the Steve Sarkisian fiasco and family issues. A couple of months later, Hayes finally came home to the Irish.

At one point a 5-star recruit who impressed on the camp circuit, Hayes went through a whirlwind high school career. He tore his right labrum as a sophomore, missed the bulk of his junior year in California after a custody battle brought him back to Michigan, and then tore his left labrum during his senior year.

He saw the field in a minor backup role as a true freshman and then grabbed the starting job as the weak-side pass rusher in 2017. As a junior, Hayes took a back seat to the blossoming Julian Okwara where he’d stay before tearing his right labrum again early in 2019 and missing the rest of the season. However, the injury was early enough in the season to allow Hayes to come back for a 5th-year where he captained the Irish.

STRENGTHS:

Physical at the point of attack. Long arms with stout lower body provide tremendous leverage against larger offensive linemen. Flashes good burst on occasion. Capable of mixing power rushing with speed rushing moves. Not uncomfortable dropping into coverage. Very good run defender. Incredibly mature and a good leader.

WEAKNESSES:

Not a NFL-level pass rusher. Disappeared too often in a starting role. Struggled developing speed moves with quality finishing ability. Suspect production throughout a long college career. A bit of a tweener defensive end for professional standards. Shoulder injuries are a major red flag.

OVERVIEW:

Prior to the Senior Bowl I would’ve guessed Hayes would not be drafted. His lack of production relative to his experience in college combined with his injury history seemed like too much for a team to overlook. After a very productive week at the Senior Bowl, now I’m not so sure.

Scouting report-wise there seems like too many strikes against Hayes, though. Who in the National Football League (spoken with emphasis like a true insider) wants a pass-rushing end who wasn’t great at pass-rushing and has 3 shoulder surgeries on his medical sheet?

Still, the Senior Bowl no doubt turned some heads on Hayes. But also, I think there’s a tendency to believe the Senior Bowl means a ton to scouts. Nearly a quarter of the participants last year went undrafted and just over a quarter more went in the 5th round or later.

Nevertheless, if Hayes gets a much better bill of health than expected now we’re talking about someone believing he’s worth a pick, especially with his maturity and leadership. It seems like those personality qualities came out and impressed scouts just as much as anything during the Senior Bowl interviews.

PREDICTION:

7th Round, 212nd Overall to the Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders have very little money tied up at defensive end and are expected to address this position likely with their 2nd or 3rd round picks. It’s also possible that Las Vegas is gun shy about taking a player with shoulder history when defensive end Clelin Ferrell went down for the year with a similar injury in his second year as a pro after being taken 4th overall in 2019. But, Hayes could be an interesting late-round flyer for a position of need.

More Scouting Reports to Come:

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
Ade Ogundeji
Ian Book
Tommy Tremble
Aaron Banks
Robert Hainsey
Liam Eichenberg