9 Notre Dame football players invited to NFL Combine

Notre Dame football will be well-represented at the NFL combine later this month.

The annual NFL Scouting Combine will take place from February 24 through March 1 in Indianapolis. When it gets rolling, there will be plenty of reasons for Notre Dame football fans to pay attention — nine to be specific.

That’s how many Fighting Irish players received combine invites.

We’ve done a pretty good job here at Slap the Sign talking about the 2020 NFL Draft and how it relates to Notre Dame players. We’ve highlighted where several mock drafts have Notre Dame football players going, and we’ve talked about which Irish players would be best fits with particular teams. Julian Okwara, Khalid Kareem, Chase Claypool, Cole Kmet, Alohi Gilman, Jalen Elliott, Troy Pride and Tony Jones have all gotten their fair share of NFL Draft pub from us. That’s eight players total.

Once person we haven’t given much love to is the ninth man invited to the combine — wide receiver Chris Finke.

Finke will have a chance to turn heads in Indy later this month. I believe there is a spot for him on an NFL roster, and he can prove that at the combine. His game film shows that he can play slot receiver and run those tradition underneath routes. He’s also proven that he can turn on the jets to become a deep threat. Perhaps most important when it comes to a guy like him securing an NFL roster spot — he is competent on special teams.

He may not get drafted, but if he can run well, catch everything thrown at him, and sound good during interviews, I believe he’ll be one of the first undrafted rookies to get a call from an NFL franchise.

Between swagger and work ethic, it’s hard to imagine 32 teams passing on a guy like Chris Finke.