← 1996 DRAFT PLAYER PROFILE R5 · #136 OVERALL · WR

Mercury Hayes

Drafted by NO · GM Bill Kuharich · Michigan

All NFL teams

Full-career context

These totals follow Mercury Hayes across every NFL team. Draft credit is separated below for each team that selected him.

Games played13
Games started0
Weighted career AV1
Pro Bowls0
AP1 All-Pro0
Career seasons2

Accountability by draft event

What each drafting team received

1996 · Round 5 · #136

NO draft credit

GM Bill Kuharich

Team games11
Team starts0
On-team AV1
On-team PB / AP10 / 0
Average-0.14 contribution16th of 25 picks for this GM

Games: direct team-season record. Starts: direct team-season record.

An Average pick

Mercury Hayes was Bill Kuharich's 16th-best of 25 picks across his career.

His retained-value contribution score (opportunity plus quality plus recognition, with related outcomes collapsed inside each bucket) is -0.14. This is a per-pick accountability metric, separate from Bill Kuharich's leaderboard composite θ.

The walkthrough below shows which bucket carried the pick: playing time, value quality, or league honors.

Opportunity
Did he earn the field?
Games played
11
on drafting team · 13 full-career
Games started
0
on drafting team
Snap-z
0.0
0 modeled seasons
Quality
Was that time valuable?
On-team AV
1
modeled; full weighted AV 1
AV / 1k snaps
snap-era only
AV-rate z
position-year adjusted quality
Recognition
Did the league notice?
Pro Bowls
0
all on drafting team
AP1 All-Pro
0 AP1
all on drafting team · AP2 context 0
All-Decade
0
context only

Did this pick move Bill Kuharich's grade?

The first chart removes the time axis: every Bill Kuharich pick is sorted by retained contribution across opportunity, quality, and recognition. Mercury Hayes totals -0.14. The second chart breaks that same contribution into the seasons when the evidence arrived. Opportunity and quality can move separately, which keeps high-snap, low-AV profiles from looking cleaner than they are.

Aggregate contribution by player

-10+113. Johnson#13 · Joe Johnson · aggregate +1.6179. Tubbs#79 · Winfred Tubbs · aggregate +0.82246. Lusk#246 · Henry Lusk · aggregate +0.52143. Novitsky#143 · Craig Novitsky · aggregate +0.4444. Zellars#44 · Ray Zellars · aggregate +0.38184. DeRamus#184 · Lee DeRamus · aggregate +0.28116. Nussmeier#116 · Doug Nussmeier · aggregate +0.1644. Bates#44 · Mario Bates · aggregate +0.15179. Hills#179 · Keno Hills · aggregate +0.14145. Ackerman#145 · Tom Ackerman · aggregate +0.07242. Davis#242 · Travis Davis · aggregate +0.06176. Mitchell#176 · Derrell Mitchell · aggregate +0.0013. Fields#13 · Mark Fields · aggregate -0.02148. Strong#148 · William Strong · aggregate -0.07204. Malone#204 · Toderick Malone · aggregate -0.08136. Hayes#136 · Mercury Hayes · aggregate -0.14Hayes -0.1165. Guess#165 · Terry Guess · aggregate -0.14142. Carroll#142 · Herman Carroll · aggregate -0.1975. Verstegen#75 · Mike Verstegen · aggregate -0.24213. Lundberg#213 · Lance Lundberg · aggregate -0.27103. Whittle#103 · Ricky Whittle · aggregate -0.33108. Jeffries#108 · Dameian Jeffries · aggregate -0.3711. Molden#11 · Alex Molden · aggregate -0.9270. Smith#70 · Brady Smith · aggregate -0.9540. Cherry#40 · Je'Rod Cherry · aggregate -1.83

Incremental contribution by season

-4-3-2-10+1+21994 · Joe Johnson · incremental +0.021994 · Winfred Tubbs · incremental +0.081994 · Craig Novitsky · incremental +0.131994 · Doug Nussmeier · incremental -0.011994 · Derrell Mitchell · incremental -0.011994 · Mario Bates · incremental -0.121994 · Herman Carroll · incremental -0.371994 · Lance Lundberg · incremental -0.481995 · Ray Zellars · incremental +0.031995 · Lee DeRamus · incremental +0.121995 · Winfred Tubbs · incremental +0.151995 · Mario Bates · incremental +0.181995 · Joe Johnson · incremental +0.301995 · Craig Novitsky · incremental +0.301995 · Travis Davis · incremental -0.011995 · Mike Verstegen · incremental -0.031995 · William Strong · incremental -0.081995 · Mark Fields · incremental -0.551995 · Dameian Jeffries · incremental -0.671996 · Mark Fields · incremental +0.061996 · Doug Nussmeier · incremental +0.101996 · Mario Bates · incremental +0.121996 · Ray Zellars · incremental +0.161996 · Joe Johnson · incremental +0.291996 · Craig Novitsky · incremental +0.301996 · Winfred Tubbs · incremental +0.341996 · Lee DeRamus · incremental +0.351996 · Henry Lusk · incremental +0.641996 · Keno Hills · incremental -0.011996 · Tom Ackerman · incremental -0.061996 · Mike Verstegen · incremental -0.121996 · William Strong · incremental -0.131996 · Toderick Malone · incremental -0.191996 · Mercury Hayes · incremental -0.211996 · Terry Guess · incremental -0.261996 · Brady Smith · incremental -0.501996 · Ricky Whittle · incremental -0.551996 · Alex Molden · incremental -0.551996 · Je'Rod Cherry · incremental -1.901997 · Mark Fields · incremental +0.051997 · Mario Bates · incremental +0.091997 · Doug Nussmeier · incremental +0.101997 · Keno Hills · incremental +0.131997 · Tom Ackerman · incremental +0.141997 · Joe Johnson · incremental +0.351997 · Ray Zellars · incremental +0.351997 · Winfred Tubbs · incremental +0.521997 · Mercury Hayes · incremental -0.051997 · Brady Smith · incremental -0.181997 · Mike Verstegen · incremental -0.221997 · Je'Rod Cherry · incremental -0.281997 · Alex Molden · incremental -0.341998 · Mark Fields · incremental +0.061998 · Keno Hills · incremental +0.121998 · Ray Zellars · incremental +0.191998 · Joe Johnson · incremental +0.391998 · Tom Ackerman · incremental -0.061998 · Brady Smith · incremental -0.221998 · Alex Molden · incremental -0.271998 · Je'Rod Cherry · incremental -0.271999 · Alex Molden · incremental +0.011999 · Mark Fields · incremental +0.051999 · Tom Ackerman · incremental -0.011999 · Je'Rod Cherry · incremental -0.281999 · Brady Smith · incremental -0.512000 · Tom Ackerman · incremental +0.152000 · Mark Fields · incremental +0.392000 · Joe Johnson · incremental +0.912000 · Alex Molden · incremental -0.122001 · Tom Ackerman · incremental +0.162001 · Joe Johnson · incremental +0.33Hayes -0.2Cherry -1.9Hayes -0.119948 players199511 players199620 players199713 players19988 players19995 players20004 players20012 players
Above expectationBelow expectationMercury HayesGM total -0.9Mercury Hayes by season -0.3

How much retained production did Mercury Hayes return vs. his slot?

Each mark below is one player's model value above slot. Light gray marks are slot-similar peers: WRs drafted within ±5 picks of Mercury Hayes since 2010 (21 players).The score is the retained production/value bucket from the pick-residual model: on-team AV plus AV-rate quality, adjusted for draft slot, position, and era. Opportunity snaps and league honors are excluded.

-0.50+0.5Model value above slot132. DoubsRomeo Doubs · model value +0.8138. IIICalvin Austin III · model value +0.3135. CowingJacob Cowing · model value +0.1140. SharpeTajae Sharpe · model value +0.1131. JonesCharlie Jones · model value 0138. WatkinsJordan Watkins · model value 0133. RoyalsJalen Royals · model value 0136. HayesMercury Hayes · model value 00135. RobinsonDenard Robinson · model value 0139. GreeneRashad Greene · model value -0.1133. ScottTyler Scott · model value -0.1136. AyomanorElic Ayomanor · model value -0.1132. PilaresKealoha Pilares · model value -0.1134. ChildsGreg Childs · model value -0.2141. HansenChad Hansen · model value -0.2132. SmelterDeAndre Smelter · model value -0.2133. SwitzerRyan Switzer · model value -0.2139. ChessonJehu Chesson · model value -0.3132. ScottJaleel Scott · model value -0.3133. MooreJ'Mon Moore · model value -0.3141. HarrisJacob Harris · model value -0.4131. WallaceTylan Wallace · model value -0.8
Mercury HayesSlot-similar peers (21)

Cumulative value over time

Year-by-year running totals since draft. Left axis = games started. Right axis = honors (Pro Bowl / AP1 / AP2). Pre-2013 picks have no games-started line because that comes from per-game snap counts (not available for older players). Honors extend back to 1980.

'96'98'000011101Cumulative GSHonors count
Games started (cumulative) Pro Bowls AP1 All-Pro AP2 All-Pro

Full-career season history (5 scored seasons)

YearTeamGPGSSnapsSnap-zAVAV/snapPBAP1AP2
1996NO701
1997ATL, NO600
1998000
1999000
2000000

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