Name: Daelin Hayes 

School: Notre Dame 

Year:  Redshirt Senior 

Position: Edge 

Measurements:  6’3 ½ 261 

STATS:

General Info:

Hayes played at Skyline High School in Belleville, Michigan. He missed the majority of his senior year at Skyline with a separated shoulder. Early enrollee to Notre Dame. Registered 12 total tackles his freshman season. Became a starter his sophomore season. The 2019 season was supposed to be his senior year but he suffered a shoulder injury four games in and ended up getting a medical Redshirt. Came back in 2020 and was named a team captain. Had his first career interception and returned it 13 yards. He tied his career high in sacks with 3. Attended the Senior Bowl.  

Positional Skills:

Positives: 

Hayes has experience playing standing up and with his hand in the ground. A good athlete with good leaping ability. He is able to leap over running backs in pass protection. Notre Dame used him on stunts, so he has experience all over the line. Hayes is big and strong. Tight ends have trouble blocking him. The edge rusher is able to power his way into blockers. He always keeps his hands up pre snap ready to engage the blocker. Generally, he is patient off the snap and knows how to stay in his gap. He does try to use a juke move, a spin move, a rip move and a swim move occasionally. Hayes can get under offensive linemen’s pads and get a push. He has a shoulder dip that has shown some effectiveness to get him past blockers. Daelin does show the ability on film to drop into some shallow zones. Hayes is a solid tackler who rarely misses.

Negatives: 

Hayes lacks explosiveness as a pass rusher and as a hitter. He doesn’t show a lot of bend coming off the edge. When the Notre Dame product is coming off the edge he is almost standing straight up, he does not seem to have much ankle flexion. He has not shown to have any good or go to pass rushing moves. Hayes is slow to get into his pass rush as well. Sometimes he seems like he doesn’t know any pass rush moves and throws weird moves out there that don’t work. The big bodied edge rarely effects the passing game. He gets stuck on blockers more than he should with how big he is and how long his arms are. 

Fit with the Packers:

Honestly, not great. He has the requisite size, strength, and long arms but just lacks almost everything else that the Packers like from their edge players. Hayes plays against the run well, but he does not do much else. He gets a little push on the pocket every now and then. But, even with how strong he is and his long arms he has more trouble getting off block than a player like he should. Lacking any sort of plan on passing downs shows on film. His moves still need a lot of work. The Notre Dame product needs to work on being quicker with his moves and to not be so hesitant off the snap. He does lack explosiveness and the bend to be a threat as a pass rusher. What’s weird is he doesn’t make a lot of plays either, he is kind of just there sometimes. Hayes would be best fit playing early downs/short yardage downs as a 4-3 end. In Green Bay he would probably just be the #4 outside linebacker and play some special teams. Expect him to go mid to late day 3, unless some team falls in love with his potential and think they can develop his pass rush moves enough to make him a threat.