Daelin
Hayes.
Daelin
Hayes.
Notre Dame· 6'3"· 253 lb· 4.71s 40
"A 6'3", 253-pound five-year Notre Dame edge captain with a 4.71 forty and 8.89 RAS, but multiple shoulder surgeries and modest sack production capped him as a Round-5 rotational rusher and special-teams bet."Pre-draft read
Plays as a strong-side, base-down edge rusher, preferring to set the edge and win with length and closing burst. He aligns primarily as a 5-technique, shifting to 4i on obvious pass downs in sub-packages. His closing speed is a primary trait, evident when chasing plays down the line, pursuing bootlegs, and running down quarterback pulls.
His hands are functional for long-arm and chop-club techniques, but his counter tree is limited. He struggles to consistently win with a defined plan against tackles. He plays with heavy hands at the point of attack, walls off tight ends and H-backs, and maintains his position against iso and duo concepts. His bend is average, leading him to run the arc past the quarterback rather than dipping to finish plays.
One-gap 4-3 penetrating front or 3-4 two-gap scheme that prioritizes edge setting and run defense from its base ends.
Rotational strong-side defensive end who can set the edge immediately and develop as a sub-package rusher, with a ceiling as a solid full-time starter in a run-heavy scheme.
Wide-9 attacking fronts where his lack of elite bend for cornering against the pass rusher is exposed, and his value on third downs would be limited.
Hayes is a movement-based strong-side end whose immediate impact will be in run defense and special teams, with potential for sub-package pass rush with refined technique.
Notre Dame DE Daelin Hayes Highlights
Career Notre Dame reel showing edge-setting anchor, long-arm reps and closing speed as a strong-side end.
Daelin Hayes vs Boston College (2020)
Full-game 2020 cut against Boston College — captain-year tape with defined run-defense and rush snaps.
Daelin Hayes NFL Debut Highlights — Ravens vs Lions 2021
Rookie debut cut with the Baltimore Ravens before the season was cut short by injury.
Hayes entered the 2021 draft cycle as a well-scouted Day 3 edge with a clearly defined role. He projected as a rotational strong-side end and core special teams contributor whose value derived from his ability to set the edge and provide closing speed. This profile was bolstered by his 4.71 forty-yard dash at 253 pounds, confirming the athletic traits seen on tape.
Over five years at Notre Dame, he played as a rotational starter, serving as a captain in 2020 within a run-strong defensive front. His career production, totaling 8.5 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss across 43 games, reflected his alignment on primarily run downs and his place in a deep rotation. This usage meant passing snaps were often funneled to teammates, limiting his sack opportunities.
The dominant concern among evaluators was his medical history, which included bilateral shoulder surgeries and a rib injury in 2019. These health flags caused a fringe top-100 tape to fall into the Round 5 zone. The Baltimore Ravens selected him at pick 171, a strong-side developmental end with special teams potential, representing an honest valuation of his traits balancing athletic upside against significant medical risk.
- 01
Edge-setting anchor
Plays with heavy hands and leverage at the point of attack, effectively walling off tight ends and H-backs on down blocks without displacement on iso or duo concepts.
- 02
Closing speed
His 4.71 forty at 253 pounds translates to tape, showing an ability to chase plays down the line, pursue bootlegs, and finish quarterback pulls, generating backside pressure.
- 03
Athletic testing
Demonstrated an 8.89 RAS with a 4.29 shuttle and 7.17 three-cone, indicating a movement-based strong-side end profile with potential for subpackage snaps.
- 04
Length and frame
Possesses 6'3", 253-pound frame with functional length to long-arm tackles and force them to widen, accommodating a five-to-ten-pound NFL weight gain without losing athletic edge.
- 05
Character and leadership
A five-year Notre Dame contributor and 2020 captain with a clean off-field record, providing the reliability position coaches seek for rotational roles.
- 01
Medical file
Multiple shoulder surgeries and a 2019 rib injury raised significant durability questions, impacting his draft stock from a fringe top-100 prospect to the mid-Round 5 range.
- 02
Pass-rush counter tree
Relies on long-arm and effort but lacks a developed counter tree, struggling to execute plan-based rushes against skilled tackles, limiting his third-down rush projection.
- 03
Career production
Modest career totals of 8.5 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss over 43 games at Notre Dame, even accounting for his rotational role and run-heavy alignment.
- 04
Bend and corner finish
Exhibits average ankle flexion, tending to run the arc past the quarterback rather than dipping and finishing on speed-to-power reps.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.71sp50
- Vertical
- 32.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 119inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.17sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.29sp50
- Bench
- 26repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Notre Dame | 11 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2017 | Notre Dame | 13 | 29 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | Notre Dame | 12 | 28 | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | Notre Dame | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | Notre Dame | 12 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Career | — | 52 | 89 | 9.5 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Realistic outcome — athletic Day-3 edge with real traits whose career is defined more by injury availability than skill; rotational snaps and special-teams work when healthy.
Aspirational strong-side end comp — length, edge-setting anchor and enough athletic ability to earn subpackage snaps in the right scheme. Ceiling only with healthy shoulders.
Traits-based edge who bounces between rosters without producing pass-rush volume and washes out inside three years; the honest downside if the medicals recur.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Pre-draft context. Daelin Hayes arrived at Notre Dame as a top-100 recruit out of IMG Academy and spent five years in South Bend as a strong-side defensive end in Clark Lea and Marcus Freeman's fronts, playing captain in 2020. Career production was modest — 8.5 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss across 43 games — because he lived mostly on run downs in a rotation that funneled passing snaps to teammates. Measured 6'3", 253 with a 4.71 forty, 32.5" vertical, 7.17 three-cone and 4.29 shuttle at the Notre Dame pro day, producing an 8.89 RAS that flagged real closing speed and short-area quickness. The dominant flag was medical: multiple shoulder surgeries across his career (labrum repairs in both shoulders) plus a rib injury that ended his 2019 season, and teams knew the file would need to clear before any Day-3 investment.
NFL fit — Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore took Hayes at #171 in Round 5 as a designed developmental strong-side rusher and special-teams body for Don 'Wink' Martindale's pressure defense, betting the athletic profile and captain traits offset the medical risk. He appeared in six games as a rookie in 2021 with a handful of defensive snaps and core special-teams work before finishing the year on injured reserve. The Ravens waived him in 2022 with an injury settlement; he signed to Chicago's practice squad briefly and was out of football by 2023 without a sack on his NFL ledger.
Retrospective. A hard-fought bet that never got a healthy runway. The tape, testing and character always projected as a rotational strong-side end with special-teams value — the definition of a Round-5 hit if the medicals held. They didn't, and the outcome is the honest downside teams priced in. The scouting lesson is durable: shoulder-heavy medical files on edge rushers who already lean run-strong more than pass-rush win rate rarely produce enough upside to survive when the injuries recur.