Davon Godchaux, the Miami Dolphins’ 23-year-old defensive tackle, and William Hayes, the 33-year-old defensive end, are good friends.
“If I had to call someone a best friend on the team,” the second-year Godchaux said of Hayes, the 10-year veteran, “I’d probably label him my best friend.”
But the friendship isn’t without bumps.
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“Me and Hayes always go at it,” Godchaux said.
The way Hayes tells it, it’s usually Godchaux’s fault.
Godchaux, it turns out, has a playful side and a serious side.
“It depends on which Godchaux you get,” Hayes said.
The playful Godchaux is the one that chided veteran running back Frank Gore, the ex-University of Miami standout, for days in the locker room before the LSU-Miami game. Godchaux, who attended LSU, kept telling Gore “those boys from Miami-Dade aren’t ready for LSU.” Godchaux was right.
This is the same upbeat, personable Godchaux that has teammates over for crawfish boils, such as he did two weeks ago for Monday Night Football and on the final day of mini-camp in June.
“I haven’t had a lot of crawfish, but it was legit,” defensive end Jonathan Woodard said of the authentic Louisiana crawfish boil that included corn, potatoes and perhaps Andouille sausage. “That sausage was spicy.”
Those are the good days, when Hayes is free to clown Godchaux about anything, at any time.
“Other days,” Hayes said, “Godchaux just wants to kick everybody’s ass.”
Godchaux, who is emerging as a leader on the defensive line, laughs at the description.
“It’s all love with me and him,” Godchaux said. “I get mad at him some days, and other days we’re on top of the world clowning with each other. I’m just a laid-back guy. I can clown a lot, I can clown a little.
“But most important, when it’s time to take care of business, I’m always serious. One hundred percent.”
Apparently, last Sunday was one of those days.
Godchaux had a career-best six tackles, including two for losses, in Miami’s 20-12 road victory over the New York Jets. Godchaux was almost unblockable 1-on-1 against Jets left guard James Carpenter.
This is what Miami needs from Godchaux against Oakland on Sunday — a mean, double-team-taking, space-eating, dominating defensive presence.
Through two games, that’s exactly what Godchaux has delivered. His nine tackles are tied for second on the team.
Coach Adam Gase sees the metamorphosis when it comes to Godchaux’s personality.
“I think it changes a little bit when he gets on the field,” Gase said. “He’s an aggressive guy. He’s a violent player. You kind of have to be when you play inside there.”
The anger and desire were instilled in Godchaux at a young age. So was the excitement that comes from making a big play.
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“I come from Plaquemine, La.,” he began. “My house got shot up when I was little. So when I make a play it’s all the excitement, all the joy.
“All the pain, all the struggle, that’s a big part, too.”
Things have been rough for Godchaux for years. His father and twin brother have served time in prison. He also has another brother who has served time. His mother has health issues. His house was shot up because of people who sought his brother. Davon, one of six children, was at basketball practice at the time of the shooting. Davon (pronounced duh-VAHN) was even homeless for a brief time during his junior year of high school after his family was evicted from its home. He tore his ACL and MCL in the first game of his senior year at Plaquemine High School. But he was good enough to still get a scholarship from LSU, and he recovered well enough to start nine games as a true freshman.
Godchaux carries all of that on his shoulders and in his heart every day, every play. It’s why he celebrates after big plays.
“It never leaves,” he said of the childhood memories. “My house getting shot up …
“When I make a play, I do it for my brothers on the field, I do it for my brothers at home, I do it for my people in the ’hood who couldn’t make it, who wanted to be in the NFL, who can’t be in the NFL. I do it for all that.”
It’s the same reason Godchaux began his annual youth football camp in Plaquemine.
“Growing up I never had anybody come back and give back to me,” he said. “I wanted to do that for the kids. It’s going to be an annual camp, each and every year, going back home having a football camp for the kids.”
Godchaux also has a foundation, through which he hosted the 2018 ChauxDown Cook-off, which helped raise money for childhood obesity. His website – www.DavonGodchaux56.com – has gear for purchase that supports the cause.
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This is where that playful side of Godchaux re-appears, as the conversation moves from the ChauxDown to his appearance on a local TV station showing him grilling in his backyard and cooking in his kitchen, to those crawfish boils for his fellow defensive linemen.
Godchaux mentions he’s from the bayou so he eats alligator. He also claims he has had family members barbecue raccoon, something he says he’d never serve to his teammates.
“They’d probably be grossed out on that,” he said. “It tastes just like chicken, though.”
Eventually the conversation returns to football.
Hayes, explaining part of the reason Godchaux is so effective, talks about his eagerness to listen to coaches and older players, his willingness to correct mistakes, and ability to take constructive criticism.
“He’s ahead of his years when it comes to taking coaching,” Hayes said.
Gases sees a similar trait.
“He’s a very coachable player, I know that,” Gase said. “He wants to do it right and he wants to be the guy in that group that guys know he’s going to get it done when he’s in there.”
When the conversation returns to football and someone in the assembled mass of media asks Godchaux if Miami misses defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Godchaux gets up from his cubicle laughing. He walks over to fellow defensive tackle Akeem Spence.
“He’s trying to give me a trick question,” Godchaux said in an amused tone. “Do we miss Ndamukong?”
Godchaux never answered the question. He said he has enough on his plate with Oakland, Sunday’s opponent. His Raiders scouting report was accurate but maybe a bit exaggerated.
“This week I have an All-Pro, (right guard Kelechi) Osemele,” he said, “you’ve got (center) Rodney Hudson, who is an All-Pro center, you have the other guard, Gabe Jackson, who is an All-Pro.”
Hudson was a Pro Bowl center and Jackson was a Pro Bowl alternate, but you get the point — Godchaux faces high-level competition, a task made even tougher because behind those guys is hard-charging running back Marshawn Lynch.
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But Godchaux is part of the NFL’s No. 8 run defense, a unit that held the Jets to 42 yards rushing and allows just 79 yards per game through two weeks. He isn’t necessarily worried about the Raiders or anyone else.
“I tell people football is just a game of winning your 1-on-1s,” he said. “At my position you get double-teamed a lot. But when you get your 1-on-1s, win them. Win your 1-on-1s, and whoever wins the most 1-on-1s between you and that guy, that’s who might end up winning the game.”
Godchaux’s sense of playfulness re-surfaces from time to time.
But in reality, Godchaux, who never forgets he was a fifth-round pick, doesn’t have much time for clowning.
“To tell you the truth,” he says with a sigh, “I don’t have any time to take time off. I was drafted in the fifth round, so I was overlooked. I feel like I should have been in the top two rounds, that’s just my opinion, but I was drafted in the fifth round, the 178th pick, so I come in here with a chip on my shoulder.
“At the end of the day when it’s time to get to business, when it’s time on Sunday, when it’s time on Wednesday’s, Thursday’s, Friday’s practices, I don’t have much time to take a lot of laughs.
“Now, after practice we can laugh. But on the field, it’s all business.”
(Top photo: Steve Mitchell / USA TODAY Sports)