Donald Hayes is a career quality starter — a receiver whose body of work places Hayes in the top half of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Hayes's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

WRNE#81ACT

Donald Hayes

Top 30% all-time WRsReliable StarterTwo-Way Profile

Height6'4"

Weight220 lb

BornJul 13, 1975

Age51

CollegeWisconsin See College Stats

Rookie yr1998

Draft1998 · Rd 4, Pick 106 · CAR

Archetype Intelligence

Reliable StarterExplore archetypes →

A wide receiver with a top 30% among starters — the kind of consistent contributor every roster needs. Solid availability (excellent availability over their career) added to their value.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 33 · #2553 · Role Player

Worth 33 points of value above a freely-available replacement receiver — top 56% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 3 of 5 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +11 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

3 cleared

2 replaced

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+11

Avg surplus

peak +21

3 seasons × ~11 surplus ≈ VORP 33

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

3 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Receiving									Defense													Advanced (EPA)
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd
1998	—	CAR	7	—	—	3	62	0	—	20.7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	CAR	12	—	29	11	270	2	37.9%	24.5	9.3	—	10	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	13.6	0	0
2000	—	CAR	15	—	110	64	909	3	58.2%	14.2	8.3	—	46	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2000	—	NO	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	3	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
2000	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	35.7	0	0
2001	—	CAR	16	—	105	52	597	2	49.5%	11.5	5.7	—	33	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2001	—	ATL	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	1	1	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
2001	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-13.2	0	0
2002	—	NE	11	—	31	12	133	2	38.7%	11.1	4.3	—	5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2002	—	MIA	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	2	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
2002	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-13.9	0	0
Career		—	69	—	275	142	1,971	9	51.6%	13.9	7.2	—	94	7	6	1	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	22.2	0	0

Career EPA22.2·22 receiving·5.5/season

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	VAL
1998	23	CAR	7	—	—	3	62	0	—	20.7	—	—	—	2.3
1999	24	CAR	12	—	29	11	270	2	37.9%	24.5	9.3	—	10	5.3
2000	25	CAR	15	—	110	64	909	3	58.2%	14.2	8.3	—	46	11.6
2001	26	CAR	16	—	105	52	597	2	49.5%	11.5	5.7	—	33	9.5
2002	27	NE	11	—	31	12	133	2	38.7%	11.1	4.3	—	5	3.8
Career			61		275	142	1,971	9	51.6%	13.9	7.2	—	94	32.5

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	Sk	Dis	FR
2000	25	NO	3	—	3	3	0	0.0	0.0	—
2001	26	ATL	3	—	2	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
2002	27	MIA	2	—	2	2	0	0.0	0.0	—
Career			8		7	6	1	—	—	—

Advanced (EPA)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA
1999	24	—	—	—	—	—	13.6
2000	25	—	—	—	—	—	35.7
2001	26	—	—	—	—	—	-13.2
2002	27	—	—	—	—	—	-13.9
Career					—	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 55 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a peak-driven profile that scores 55 of 100, era-normalized against rec yds/g peers across 5 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 55.4 × longevity 1 = KV-H 55· confidence 98%

What builds the career mark of 53

On-field 36.8

Availability 16.2

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative rec yds/g)

1998bestavg 502002

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 9% of the all-time Receptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

9% of the all-time Receptions leader9

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

5.55 EPA/season over 4 seasons52

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 90%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average wide receivers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

College Stats

WisconsinCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Wisconsin), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

1998 Draft Class· this player went #106

#97Fred WearyDB #98Roland WilliamsTE #100Michael MyersDT #101Tavian BanksRB #102Lorenzo BromellDE #103Omar BrownDB #104Todd WashingtonC #105Glen SteeleDT #107Joe Salave'aDT #108DeShone MylesLB #110Kivuusama MaysLB #111Jason FabiniOT #112Brandon WhitingDE #113Shawn BarberLB #114Tim DwightWR #116Clarence LoveCB

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Donald inherited the Carolina Panthers WR room from Muhsin Muhammad (1996–2009), and handed it to Patrick Jeffers (1999–2001).

Willie Green 1995–1996Mark Carrier 1995–1998Raghib Ismail 1996–1998Muhsin Muhammad 1996–2009Donald Hayes 1998–2001Patrick Jeffers

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2002team change
Joined NE (from CAR)
2002final season
Last recorded season with NE
1998draft
Drafted by CAR — Round 4, Pick 106

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'4" / 220 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 5-season peers. See all →

peak 59

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

D1998

C1999

B2000

C+2001

D2002

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 5 seasons.

84%

Era Translator

Rec Yds translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rec Yds	Rec Yds/G	→ 2025 Rec Yds	→ 2025 /G
1998	62	8.9	153+91	9
1999	270	22.5	329+59	19.4
2000	909	60.6	912+3	53.6
2001	597	37.3	512-85	30.1
2002	133	12.1	20-113	1.1

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:advanced-epa (CC-BY 4.0), wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), espn.com:stats-api (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

33 career value over replacement — #2553 all-time of 4,642. 6.6/season above a replacement-level WR.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #106 (Rd 4) · CAR · 1998 · +18.2 vs expected KV-H

55actual

36.8 expected · Δ+18.2

Fan Rating

Rate Donald Hayes — All-Time

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Donald Hayes

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Receiving

Defense

Advanced (EPA)

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1998 Draft Class· this player went #106

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator