Category: Irish in NFL

Notre Dame’s Kmet Rated Top Tight End by Touchdown Wire

Cole Kmet might not be a can’t miss tight end prospect but none exist in the 2020 NFL Draft. What he is is the best tight end available.

Anything and everything you read about this 2020 NFL Draft tight end class is that it pales in comparison to recent classes.

Last year’s class saw Iowa teammates T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant both go in the first round. 2018 wasn’t great, but it still had one first rounder, two second rounders and two third rounders. 2017 was chock full of highly rated prospects in O.J. Howard, David Njoku, and Evan Engram.

This year. Meh.

Washington’s Hunter Bryant, Purdue’s Brycen Hopkins, Florida Atlantic’s Harrison Bryant are interesting receiving threats, Dayton’s Adam Trautman is intriguing. I’ve always liked Missouri’s Albert Okwuegbunam. But none of them is the complete package.

Kmet is the closest thing the NFL is going to see in this draft to a “complete” tight end.

That fact alone may have been the impetus for Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet to enter his name in the draft despite 23 career games, 60 career catches and an opportunity to put up major numbers next year with quarterback Ian Book coming back and Chase Claypool’s targets to fill.

Based on analysis from Touchdown Wire’s own Mark Schofield, he made the right decision.

Schofield has him rated as the #1 in the class citing his ability to attack the seam, his catch radius, his run after catch potential, and the breadth of his blocking experience relative to other college tight ends.

Along with those positives, Schofield mentions his tendency toward body-catching in traffic, defenses finding success in knocking him off his routes and the injuries that prevented Kmet from gaining more experience.

I have Kmet ranked right now as my number one tight end and I don’t see that changing. Though some may consider me biased, I’ve been aboard the Kmet bandwagon as the next great Notre Dame tight end.

Check the time stamp there folks!

Now here’s the thing. Kmet is by no means a perfect prospect. Justifiably, there are concerns and I agree with all of those Schofield mentioned in his analysis. While the potential is there, there simply isn’t a lot of evidence of Kmet being a no-doubt prospect.

Frankly, he hasn’t played a lot of football. Even Kyle Rudolph, who seemed like he was always banged up, played in six more college contests than Kmet. But it does beg the question?

Is the unknown on Kmet a negative or is it a curiosity that will pique some team’s interest forcing him higher up the boards than we think.

I’m willing to bet on the latter.

Where does Kmet’s pro potential rank in my mind compared to recent products from “Tight End U”? I’m glad you asked.

Kmet might not be a knock-out prospect for reasons discussed but he is the clear top tight end in this NFL Draft.

Former Notre Dame Star Smith Honored by MaxPreps

Jaylon Smith is recognized as one of the best high school players in the last decade.

Earlier this week MaxPreps came out with their All-Decade High School Football Team, consisting of the best prep players from 2010-2019. They honored 100 players in their list, with former Irish star LB Jaylon Smith being named to the first team.

Zach Poff, MaxPreps National Football Editor, who compiled the list, wrote that Smith “was the top-rated linebacker in his class and helped the Knights to four consecutive state titles. Named Mr. Football in Indiana as a senior and was a three-time all-state first-team selection.” The production by Smith in high school led to a 5-Star ranking by all services and finished his career by playing in the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

Smith then made an impact early and often in his career in South Bend, totaling 292 tackles, 24.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and an interception. The three-year starter was a second-team All-American his sophomore season before winning the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker his junior year. Smith’s final year saw him become a consensus All-American and unfortunately during his final game in the Blue and Gold, he tore his ACL and LCL.

This clearly hurt his draft stock, as prior to Smith’s injury he was viewed as a clear-cut first round pick. The Dallas Cowboys selected Smith in the second round with the 34th overall selection but did not play his “rookie” year due to rehabbing the injury. When Smith finally returned to the field, his talent’s shined once again, as he has totaled 344 tackles, 7.5 sacks, an interception, 6 forced fumbles and a touchdown. His efforts impressed Dallas as they extended him through 2024 for $64 million. Smith has been a star at every stop he’s had in his football career. He has made Notre Dame extremely proud to call him an alumnus.

Notre Dame Record Holder Making NFL Number Change in 2020

Love did all of that while wearing a different number than he did at Notre Dame.  The former number 27 for the Fighting Irish sported jersey number 24 for the Giants in 2019.  In 2020, Love will be going back to his roots.

Julian Love was one of the best Notre Dame defensive backs in recent memory.  In just three years of play he set the program record for most passes defended in school history and took home All-American honors before declaring for the NFL Draft after the 2018 season.

Love was drafted by the New York Giants in the 2019 NFL Draft, 108th overall in the fourth round.  Once getting playing time in the back-half of his rookie year, Love began to make an impact as he recorded an interception in his first start, defending three passes on the year, forcing a fumble and making five tackles for loss.

Love did all of that while wearing a different number than he did at Notre Dame.  The former number 27 for the Fighting Irish sported jersey number 24 for the Giants in 2019.  In 2020, Love will be going back to his roots.

Love will wear number 20 for the Giants in 2020, the same number he wore at Nazareth High School in the Chicago suburbs, something Love mentioned on Instagram on Tuesday.

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Love wore number 27 while at Notre Dame as the number 20 was taken by fellow-defensive back Shaun Crawford back in 2016.

Irish in the NFL: Zack Martin Named to All-Decade Team

Martin has been a force with the Dallas Cowboys as he’s been elected six times as an All-Pro and been selected for the Pro Bowl on six occasions in his six year career to date. By definition, nobody has dominated their position since 2014 like Martin has.

The NFL’s All-Decade Team for 2010-2019 is out and one former Notre Dame star made the team. As you could probably guess, it was an offensive lineman seeing as so many who came through turned to gold both in college and the pros over the last decade.

Zack Martin, one of the best linemen in the league since the day he was drafted walked away with the honors on Monday afternoon.

Martin has been a force with the Dallas Cowboys as he’s been elected six times as an All-Pro and been selected for the Pro Bowl on six occasions in his six year career to date. By definition, nobody has dominated their position since 2014 like Martin has.

It’s hard to make a case for any Notre Dame players being snubbed offensively. Quenton Nelson has a pair of All-Pro appearances but has only played two seasons. Ronnie Stanley has been good but only 2019 in his career so far has been anywhere near that level and although Notre Dame puts a tight end in the pros just about every year, Kyle Rudolph (the best NFL career of the bunch) doesn’t touch Rob Gronkowski or Travis Kelce in terms of production or dominance.

The defensive side of the ball is another story as plenty of stars were taken in the secondary yet Harrison Smith was not one of them. He might not have the flash as some but I have a hard time believing there were eight better defensive backs in the game since 2012.

More Details Emerge on Unique 2020 NFL Draft

Whether a Notre Dame player ends up getting drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft later this month remains to be seen. What we do know is that this is going to probably be the strangest appearing draft any of us have ever watched. We already …

Whether a Notre Dame player ends up getting drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft later this month remains to be seen. What we do know is that this is going to probably be the strangest appearing draft any of us have ever watched.

We already knew players being in the green room wasn’t happening and that the fan events around the draft that was supposed to be held in Las Vegas have been called off. Now thanks to news from Adam Schefter we’re getting a bit more of an idea just how strange this will all be.

So nobody will be in their team offices, instead they’ll all be in their homes, linked together on video/conference calls. From there the picks and potential trades will be proposed and decided on. I’d assume with that more time between picks will he added.

I just know if I worked in an NFL office that I’d be sweating over my WiFi connection already.

Buckle up. Draft weekend could be a bumpy (but still enjoyable) ride.

NFL Draft: Five Notre Dame Players Taken in Latest DraftWire Mock

43rd – Chicago Bears – Cole Kmet, TE, Notre Dame
The Bears did just sign Jimmy Graham to a deal which means the Bears do in fact still have plenty of questions at tight end.

Good news:  we’ve made it to NFL Draft month with the event now less than three weeks from getting underway.

Bad news:  until then we’ll all be told rumors and be given mock drafts and we’ll use those in trying to figure out where we think each players are going to end up.

Enter:  The latest 2020 NFL Mock Draft to look at in regards to Notre Dame prospects.  This one courtesy of USA TODAY’s Draft Wire.

No former Notre Dame players are selected in the first round of this mock draft that actually goes four rounds deep.  We see a couple names pop up in round two however:

43rd – Chicago Bears – Cole Kmet, TE, Notre Dame
The Bears did just sign Jimmy Graham to a deal which means the Bears do in fact still have plenty of questions at tight end.

54th – Buffalo Bills – Julian Okwara, Edge, Notre Dame
I know the Bills have won nothing in Okwara’s lifetime but getting a spot as an edge rusher on that defensive line would be one of the best potential landing spots for him in terms of having a path to early success.

Round three sees another pair of Notre Dame players go in this particular mock draft.

82nd – Dallas Cowboys – Chase Claypool, WR/TE, Notre Dame
I don’t have a lot of belief that Claypool will last until 82 but everyone is entitled to their own opinions.  What I did find interesting in this pick was the author choosing to list Claypool at both wide receiver and tight end after a monster showing at the NFL Rookie Combine.

86th – Buffalo Bills – Troy Pride, Jr., CB, Notre Dame
There aren’t many better defenses to get to be a part of than Buffalo’s if you’re a young player.  For an undersized corner with great speed he’d have a chance to succeed here at a nickel spot.  I like it.

The final pick in this mock draft (it went through round four) happens in the fourth round.

132nd – Minnesota Vikings – Khalid Kareem, Edge, Notre Dame
A decade or so ago the Vikings were a hotbed for Notre Dame players to end up as they selected four former Fighting Irish from 2008-2012.  They have not taken one since selecting Harrison Smith in 2012, however (not that it means anything in regards to this specific draft).

 

Sports Illustrated Declares Notre Dame the New Offensive Line U

Sports Illustrated “crunched the numbers” and as much as I appreciate the work and effort to do so, can’t you just kind of look and figure that out?  All you really had to do was watch with your eyes open.

Notre Dame has been known as Tight End U to anyone paying attention in recent years, something we tracked back to the late-eighties earlier this week.  Notre Dame fans are aware of it but the nation was reminded today that it’s not just Tight End U, but also Offensive Line U as Sports Illustrated just said as much.

It really doesn’t take much thinking to figure it out.  You know the names – Nick and Zack Martin, Ronnie Stanley and Quenton Nelson.  These guys aren’t just Notre Dame guys made the NFL, these are the best of the best and All-Pro players.

Sports Illustrated “crunched the numbers” and as much as I appreciate the work and effort to do so, can’t you just kind of look and figure that out?  All you really had to do was watch with your eyes open.

Sports Illustrated used a point system to put this all together that was based off of the number of draft picks each school had and the level of play those players exhibited in the NFL.  Notre Dame didn’t have the most but the abilities of those there were far-exceeded any other school.

Now let’s just hope this year’s group takes a step in the run game to perform near that level in 2020.

The Notre Dame Draft Prospect Pro Football Focus Loves

One outlet that has been all about a certain Notre Dame player this off-season though is Pro Football Focus, who again has Julian Okwara going in their latest mock draft’s first round.

If you’ve consumed many NFL mock drafts in the recent weeks you’ve probably not seen many Notre Dame players selected in the first round.  It’s at best a toss-up but seeming less likely by the day, and the mock draft that a former Fighting Irish football player is selected in the first round.

One outlet that has been all about a certain Notre Dame player this off-season though is Pro Football Focus, who again has Julian Okwara going in their latest mock draft’s first round.

It’s important to remember that PFF conducts these drafts by making the picks by selecting the players they would take if they were the GM of all 32 teams, not by picking who they believe each team will take.  With that said, here is what Steve Palazzolo had to say about Okwara who they have going 28th overall to the Baltimore Ravens.

Even with the Ravens franchising Matt Judon, Okwara is a fantastic fit for their defense. They have the most versatile defense in the league, and Okwara is an edge rusher with coverage-dropping athleticism. The Ravens can continue their “positionless football” approach on defense with Okwara, who had an excellent 90.4 pass-rush grade a year ago to go with the movement skills to play off-ball linebacker if needed. The Ravens will use that skillset to keep opposing offenses off balance.

This isn’t the first time PFF has had Okwara going in the first round as two weeks ago Mike Renner had Okwara going 29th to the Tennessee Titans.

If I had to guess I’d think that coming off of injury especially hurts Okwara as he didn’t workout besides in the bench press at the NFL Rookie Combine a few weeks back.  Because of that I’ll be pleasantly surprised if someone does step up and take him in the first round.

Joe Montana Weighs in on Tom Brady’s New England Exit

Were you stunned that Tom Brady actually left New England and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week?  If so, you’re hardly alone.  And now, another legendary quarterback who made a similar move nearly three decades ago say’s he’s just as shocked as you or I.

Were you stunned that Tom Brady actually left New England and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week?  If so, you’re hardly alone.  And now, another legendary quarterback who made a similar move nearly three decades ago say’s he’s just as shocked as you or I.

Joe Montana, the Hall of Fame quarterback and owner of four Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers exited after the 1992 season and played two more in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs.  Montana commented to the USA TODAY about Brady’s departure.

“I don’t know what’s going on inside there, but somebody made a mistake,” Montana told USA TODAY Sports.

“I think when you look at the whole situation, you try to figure out how you want to get away from things that are there,” Montana, 63, said from his Northern California home during a phone interview. “I had a different story, where they had made a decision. He, obviously, they never would have gotten rid of. I still don’t understand how New England let him get away. I don’t understand that.”

I get what Montana is saying, especially when you consider that New England doesn’t currently appear to currently have a viable option at the position like the 49ers did with Steve Young when they let Montana walk.

To me it’s about egos and eventually they end this way.  Growing up a Chicago Bulls fan I recall how that dynasty came apart.  General manager Jerry Krause made a comment years earlier about “organizations winning championships, not players” and it ticked off a couple of stars by the names of Jordan and Pippen.  Krause thought he could rebuild another championship caliber team while the players thought the six championships were all their and head coach Phil Jackson’s doing.

Eventually they went their separate ways, Jordan retiring a second time before returning to the Washington Wizards a few years later. Pippen forced a trade to Portland and helped them on some very good, but never championship level squads.  And Phil Jackson exited, only to resurface a few years later in Los Angeles and helped the Lakers build a three-peat champion.

So who is in the right here?

Can the answer be nobody?

I’m not one to think this ends well for any of the parties.  Brady looked old last year and I know we’ve all said that before but his numbers reflected that more-so than ever.

The Patriots simply weren’t as good, even with an outstanding pass defense.  I know it’s next to impossible to always be Super Bowl caliber but they were a clear step behind a few AFC squads last season, something you haven’t said about them in probably 20 years.

Brady and Belichick are both probably the best to do what they both do, but both don’t scale the mountains they did for as long as they did without each other.

It’s a shame Brady didn’t get a John Elway-type exit from football but maybe just maybe he’ll turn the tide of a franchise that’s the owner of one of the sadder histories in the history of the league.

Irish in the NFL: Sheldon Day to the Colts

Former Notre Dame defensive lineman and member of the 2019 NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers, Sheldon Day, is headed home as he’s inked a one-year deal with his hometown Indianapolis Colts.

Former Notre Dame star and four-year NFL veteran Sheldon Day has a new home as the defensive lineman signed a deal with the Indianapolis Colts on Wednesday.  The defensive lineman finds his third NFL franchise having previously spent time in Jacksonville before going to San Francisco in mid-2017 and eventually playing on their NFC Championship team last year.

Day rejoins defensive line-mate DeForest Buckner who he played alongside in San Francisco and who the Colts traded a first round pick for last week.

In his four NFL seasons Day has six career sacks and 53 tackles, 14 of which were recorded for a loss.

Day returns home as he grew up in Indianapolis and attended Warren Central High School and was the runner up in the 2011 voting for the state’s Mr. Football award.  In Indianapolis he will rejoin his former Notre Dame teammate Quenton Nelson who will be entering his third NFL season in 2020.  The two played together at Notre Dame in both the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

Day’s deal with the Colts is said to be for one year with the financial terms not yet being announced.

If you have a couple minutes – enjoy Sheldon Day ripping up the track during his time at Notre Dame:

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