Category: Notre Dame NFL Draft

247Sports projects two Notre Dame players selected in ‘23 NFL 1st round

Double up in 2023?

The 2022 NFL Draft has just begun but many writers are already looking forward to next years draft, especially the first-round. Blake Brockermeyer, a former Texas All-American and first-round NFL selection turned analyst for 247Sports looked ahead to the 2023 draft. He sees two current Notre Dame players as potential early selections. Find out below where Brockermeyer thinks they’ll go. (The teams are just projections at this moment.)

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Watch: Notre Dame QB Jack Coan shows off arm strength at NFL Combine

Look at that cannon

The Irish have had quite a day at the NFL Combine this evening. There were wide receiver Kevin Austin’s impressive numbers which should not have surprised many after seeing what he could do the past few years.

Jack Coan however was an enigma. We knew that the Irish were getting a winner as his time at Wisconsin, but there were some things that Coan showed during the season that surprised many. His arm strength was much better than advertised and he showed that multiple times during the year fitting balls into very tight windows.

What we didn’t expect was for him to light up the radar gun at the NFL Combine, which is exactly what Coan did. His throw was the second fastest at the combine, behind North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell. Check out below Coan showing off his very impressive arm strength.

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Mel Kiper, Jr.’s latest mock draft sends Kyle Hamilton to Big Apple

Which team drafting in the top 10 would you most like to see Kyle Hamilton drafted by and why?

Where will Kyle Hamilton be drafted this spring?  We know the former Notre Dame star will have his name called early in the NFL draft but just how early might that be?

Some projections have had him going as high as second overall while others have him falling towards the end of the top ten.  One of the first to take over the world of analyzing the NFL draft has his latest 2022 mock draft out and sends Hamilton to the New York Jets at fourth overall.

Here is what Mel Kiper, Jr. of ESPN had to say about Hamilton:

“I’m going to stick with Hamilton to the Jets, who were awful in the secondary in 2021 and could lose Marcus Maye in free agency. Because I know you’re thinking it: No, this is not too high to take a safety. Not a safety like Hamilton, who can make a massive impact against the run and pass. He had eight career interceptions at Notre Dame and could play multiple spots along the defense at the next level. Hamilton is a versatile playmaker who will make a defense better on Day 1. The Jets still have another first-round pick to try to improve their offense.”

Just how bad was the Jets secondary in 2021?  They gave up the third-most passing yards in the league while being outscored on average by over 11 points per game.

Related:

All 100 Notre Dame NFL draft picks since 2000 

ESPN projects one Notre Dame player selected in NFL Draft’s first two rounds

We know who, but where does he go?

The NFL is concluding their year, with the Super Bowl coming this weekend.  Teams who aren’t involved have already turned their focus to the next big event in the NFL calendar, the draft.

Many teams have been out scouting, with the East-West Shrine and Senior Bowl’s having been played, projections to where players might end up in April’s draft have started to emerge. ESPN’s Jordan Reid (insider) was one of them, as he posted his two-round mock draft and only one Notre Dame player made his list, safety Kyle Hamilton. Reid has the former All-American going seventh overall to the New York Giants.

This isn’t a surprise that Hamilton is projected to go early, but not having running back Kyren Williams is. No backs were projected to go in the first round and just one, Texas A&M’s Isaiah Spiller, is expected to go in the first two rounds.

This is surely to change with the NFL Combine, Pro-Day’s and private workouts ahead, but it is interesting to see where players stand at this junction.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Pro Football Focus ranks Notre Dame’s Williams as Top-5 RB prospect

Where will Williams go?

As we all know Irish running back Kyren Williams has made his future known. He has declared for the NFL Draft and will not play in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State.

The next time Williams puts the pads on it will be in the NFL but where he gets drafted is the next question. Recently, Pro Football Focus ranked the top draft eligible running backs and Williams checked in 5th on their list. He ranked behind Michigan State’s Kenneth Walker III, Iowa State’s Breece Hall, UCLA’s Zach Charbonnet and Texas A&M’s Isaiah Spiller.

There is an argument that Williams should be higher on this list given his production, but I feel like it’s his size that might be a detractor. That might not matter if he plays like he did for the Irish over the last two seasons. Williams can be a three-down back, even with his smaller stature. Many of us expect the former Irish running back to have a very solid NFL career.

CBS Sports latest mock projects one Notre Dame player selected in 1st Round

Heading east?

The NFL regular seasons is coming to a close and with many collegiate players making their intentions known for next year, there are going to be mock drafts coming out. CBS Sports has done exactly that, with Josh Edwards projecting where the stars of college football will end up at the next level.

It should come to no one’s surprise that Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton will get selected during the first day of the NFL Draft, but the question is where will he end up. Edwards has the early entry junior heading off to the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, with the 11th overall selection.

It seems like the Eagles would be getting a steal, as Edwards ranks Hamilton as the top prospect at safety. If he is right, Philadelphia, would be getting a player Edwards says “has an argument as the draft’s best available player.”

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Kyren Williams still yet to decide on returning for 2022

Does he stay or does he go?

Even though he was somehow left off the list of finalists for the Doak Walker Award that goes annually to the nation’s top collegiate running back, Notre Dame’s Kyren Williams was about as good as it got at the position in all of college football in 2021.  Despite playing behind a makeshift offense line that had no cohesion for nearly an entire half of the season, Williams still rushed for over 1,000 yards and was Notre Dame’s best offensive player on seemingly a weekly basis.

From afar it would seem like Williams will be suiting up for Notre Dame for the final time in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State on New Year’s Day but the star running back isn’t so sure that’s the case just yet.

“It’s something that obviously I’m thinking about and obviously I’ve got to make something happen,” said Williams following head coach Marcus Freeman’s introductory press conference on Monday, ““Coach Freeman has always been a coach I’ve wanted to play for and I felt like our connection this season has grown a lot stronger. But (stay at Notre Dame vs. declare for the NFL draft) is something I still have to think about and put into action later on.”

Williams was later asked if he was certain to play in the Fiesta Bowl to which he answered, “As of right now, yeah.”

I don’t want to speculate but I have trouble thinking that was still at all up in the air if there was much of a likelihood that he was returning to Notre Dame.

My guess is that with the short window most running backs have to be at their peak that Williams would go make an NFL salary starting next year but I never would have guessed Travis Etienne of Clemson would have stayed for his senior year back in 2020, either.

Related:

Marcus Freeman discusses crazy week and new role with Dan Patrick

Kyren Williams joins rare list of Notre Dame running backs to accomplish this

Longtime Notre Dame assistant coach headed to LSU to join Brian Kelly

How high does Notre Dame star Hamilton rank on ESPN’s Kiper Jr’s Big Board

Hamilton will hear his name called early

The NFL Draft will be here sooner than we expect. Well, that that soon, in April of 2022 but for many draft eligibility collegiate football players, the process has already started. NFL teams will scout these players over the course of their careers, finding who will fit best in their system and if their skill set will translate over.

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Ever since Kyle Hamilton stepped foot on Notre Dame’s campus, he was ready to succeed. The junior is now being viewed as one of the best players in the country and he deserves all the praise and more. Today, ESPN’s draft guru Mel Kizer Jr. released his newest big board and Hamilton held strong at No. 2.

Although his status for the remainder of the season is in jeopardy, we know he’s out this weekend against North Carolina, it seems like his draft stock hasn’t changed. Expect Hamilton to hear his name called very early by an NFL team regardless of how his injury plays out.

Instant Twitter reaction: Notre Dame’s Ogundeji selected by Atlanta

Ade to ATL

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Make it eight former Notre Dame players selected in the 2021 NFL draft, as defensive end Ade Ogundeji is headed to Georgia. The Atlanta Falcons selected the end with the 182nd pick in the fifth round. At this moment, there are just three other Irish players that could be taken. Here is the Twitter reaction of Ogundeji becoming a Falcon.

CBS Sports updates NFL mock draft, Notre Dame sees no first rounders

Wait, what?

The majority of NFL mock drafts that many of have seen heading into the meat of the virtual combine has seen at least one Notre Dame football member, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, being selected in the first round. As CBS Sports Ryan Wilson has expanded his mock draft to three rounds, no Irish players are projected in his first round.

This is a bit shocking, as the majority of draft analysts have JOK going somewhere in the drafts opening salvo. How the most recent Butkus Award winner and consensus All-American could drop out of the first-round is beyond comprehension.

Wilson has the linebacker being selected early in the second round, pick 35, to the Atlanta Falcons. In my estimation, there is no way that JOK falls that far in the draft.

Offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg is the next projected former Irish player to go off the board, reuniting with teammate Cole Kmet in Chicago with the Bears. At pick 52 in the second-round, this is a bit low, but much more reasonable projection as to where Eichenberg will get selected.

The final Notre Dame player Wilson has mocked is Tommy Tremble. The tight end is projected to land in the third round to the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 88th overall pick.

Both Eichenberg and Tremble’s slots are legit, but having JOK fall out of the first-round is downright criminal.