William Hayes is the Miami Dolphins “attitude guy”

The Miami Dolphins made a big trade for defensive end William Hayes last year and until he got hurt it was paying off. Miami expects more this season.

William Hayes, yes the guy who believes in mermaids but not dinosaurs, is one of the top run stopping defensive ends in the entire NFL. His coaches love him and Adam Gase called him the teams “attitude guy”.

"(DE William Hayes is a guy that nobody seems to be talking a whole lot about. Is he one of those veterans that you just know come the regular season you can count on him?) – “Well, we notice him in practice. I know our players notice him. He does a great job. Every day is a game to him. He doesn’t take any plays off. He takes everything he does as serious as anybody I’ve ever been around. When we traded for him and when he got injured last year, that was a big swing for us because he was really our attitude guy on defense. He set the tempo a lot of times. He played through a lot of injuries, it seemed like. I think he was a little more hurt than what he led us on to believe. That guy is tough, he’s physical and he cares. He wants to win and he wants to do right.” – MiamiDolphins.com"

That’s a big compliment for a man who is relatively quiet most of the time. Hayes was really good last season but the injury bug that hit the Dolphins eventually found its way to Hayes. The Dolphins saw more than enough to sign to another deal this off-season. In practice he is doing everything that is being asked.

Miami needs some attitude on defense both in practices and in the games and after spending a year with Miami Hayes is getting better acclimated to his surroundings. That has to be a good thing come the start of the season.

The Dolphins are rotating eight defensive ends with the first unit but there shouldn’t be cause for concern in terms of continuity. All of the DE’s seem to fit well in a rotation and the Dolphins will use them in game situations where their strengths will be better utilized.

Cameron Wake spoke over the weekend about the same thing. He said that he is out there to do what they ask him and he is quite happy with the progress being made by the unit especially Charles Harris who struggled at times last season.

Hayes is in a good position given his ability to stop the run and he is proving that he can still get up field and disrupt the passing game. Miami needs some attitude so it’s nice to hear that some of it is coming from an unlikely source.