Notre Dame football: Cole Kmet getting NFL Draft love

One of the most prominent draft analysts is pretty high on the Notre Dame tight end.

It’s not hard to watch a Notre Dame football game and see exactly how talented tight end Cole Kmet is. Suffice to say, he passes the eye test in terms of looking at him and determining whether or not he’s a guy who can play at the next level.

Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller, one of the most renowned NFL Draft analysts in the game, is very high on Kmet.

Miller released the most recent version of his 2020 NFL Draft Big Board earlier in the week. He had Cole Kmet as the No. 2 overall tight end available in next year’s draft, behind only Purdue’s Brycen Hopkins.

Miller also rated Kmet as the No. 1 overall blocking tight end.

This is just confirmation of what Notre Dame fans have known for a while. The former two-sport athlete has elite size and athleticism for the position. His impact has been apparent since he stepped on the field in the 2019 season. He’s a safety valve, a red-zone threat, elite blocker and a matchup nightmare.

Those traits will likely follow him into his NFL career when it begins next year.

If you are looking for a potential, realistic landing spot for Cole Kmet in the 2020 NFL Draft, keep an eye on the tight end situation in New England.

The struggles the Patriots have had throwing to tight ends in 2019, as well as the step back they have taken in the running game, can both be attributed to the departure of Rob Gronkowski. New England’s success over the years — especially recently — has centered largely around solid tight end play.

I wouldn’t put it past Bill Belichick to spend a first round pick on Kmet in order to provide a quick fix to what appears to be his team’s biggest struggles moving forward.