Notre Dame football: CBS mocks 5 Irish players in first 3 rounds of draft

The latest CBS mock draft projects five Notre Dame football players being selected in the top three rounds of the upcoming NFL Draft.

Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports just released his latest NFL mock draft, which had five Notre Dame football players being selected in the first three rounds of the draft.  While five players being selected in the first three rounds is a testament to the caliber players that Notre Dame is producing, his projections were lower than most industry experts predictions for a number of the former Irish players.

The former Notre Dame football players that are receiving consideration to be drafted in the upcoming draft include Julian Okwara, Cole Kmet, Chase Claypool, Troy Pride Jr., Khalid Kareem, Alohi Gilman, Jalen Elliott, Chris Finke, and Tony Jones Jr.

Surprisingly, Wilson had no Notre Dame football players being selected in the first round of the upcoming draft. Many experts predict that Okwara, Kmet, and Claypool could receive first-round consideration. Okwara is one of the better edge rushers in the draft, Kmet is arguably the best tight end and Claypool saw his draft stock skyrocket with an exceptional NFL Combine showing.

The first Notre Dame player that Wilson projected being selected was Julian Okwara. Wilson predicted that he would be selected in the second round of the draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 49th overall selection. While most mock drafts have him being selected in the latter part of the first or early part of the second round, it’s plausible that Okwara slips because of injury concerns.

Okwara was unable to compete in most events at the combine as he continues to recover from the broken leg he suffered in November in a game against Duke University. He had hoped to be able to be a full participant in the Notre Dame Pro Day this month in an effort to boost his draft stock. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Notre Dame football canceled its Pro Day.

As a result, Okwara could very well slip to the mid to late parts of the second round. The Steelers are certainly a fit for Okwara, as they could potentially lose Bud Dupree to free agency and are already light on edge rushers.

The second Notre Dame football player that Wilson had selected in his mock draft was tight end, Cole Kmet. Wilson’s prediction was that Kmet would be selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round of the draft with the 73rd overall selection.

Kmet has been predicted to be a first-round selection in a lot of mock drafts. Many predicted he would go in the first round to the Chicago Bears or New England Patriots. With the Bears signing free-agent tight end Jimmy Graham to a contract yesterday, it takes a potential suitor for Kmet off the board.

With the decrease in demand due to Bears recent signing, there is a legitimate chance that Kmet could slip in the draft. However, it is more likely that he slips to the early to middle parts of the second round and not all the way to the middle of the third round as Wilson is predicting.

Chase Claypool is in an interesting position following his excellent performance at the NFL Combine. Originally projected to be selected between the third and sixth rounds of what is a draft that is extremely heavy on top-end wide receiving talent, the strong combine performance had most experts moving Claypool far up the draft boards.

Wilson didn’t share the same sentiment, as he had Claypool being selected in the third round of the draft by the New York Jets with the 79th overall pick. Jets fans would be ecstatic to give their franchise quarterback Sam Darnold an offensive weapon of Claypool’s caliber this late in the draft.

While its likely Claypool is still firmly entrenched behind wide receivers such as Jerry Jeudy, CeeDee Lamb, Henry Ruggs III, and Tee Higgins, he will likely receive consideration in the group of receivers that includes Justin Jefferson, Laviska Shenault Jr., Denzel Mims, Jalen Reagor, and Bryan Edwards.

If Claypool is the last receiver drafted out of that group, that would make him the tenth wide receiver selected in the draft. That may very well push Claypool to the third round, which is less of an indictment on his abilities and more of a statement about how deep this draft is at the wide receiver position.

Wilson had another Notre Dame football player being selected just one pick after Chase Claypool when he projected the Oakland Raiders selecting Troy Pride Jr. with the 80th overall selection in the third round of the draft.

Pride Jr. is another Irish player who is negatively impacted by the cancellation of the Notre Dame Pro Day this month. His 40-yard dash time fell short of expectations, despite running a time of 4.40 in the event. He was hoping to improve upon that time at Pro Day and many anticipated he would run a time in the high 4.2 to low 4.3-second range.

Much of Pride Jr.’s draft stock is predicated upon his elite speed and he failed to impress in some of the other events he participated in during the NFL Combine. Regardless, his top-flight speed and collegiate results should give him an excellent chance of being selected in at least the third round of the draft.

The final Notre Dame football player that Wilson had mocked into the first three rounds of the draft was defensive end, Khalid Kareem. Wilson had Kareem being selected in the third round of the NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagle with the 103rd overall selection.

Khalid is in a similar boat to that of Julian Okwara in that he was unable to participate in the NFL Combine events due to a shoulder injury. While Okwara participated in the bench press, Kareem did not participate at all and was hoping to be a full participant in Notre Dame’s Pro Day before it was canceled.

Despite an excellent career at Notre Dame, Kareem is expected to be drafted as a backup pass rusher and special teams player that teams hope to eventually develop into a starter. Wilson actually has Kareem projected to be selected higher than most mock drafts, which have him mostly being selected between the fourth and sixth rounds of the draft. He is an excellent fit for a pass rush deficient Eagles team.

With mock drafts being produced more regularly and becoming extremely fluid with NFL free agency in full swing, we will continue to monitor where the experts anticipate the Notre Dame football stars being selected in the upcoming draft. With the lack of Pro Days for draft prospects to participate in, it will undoubtedly lead to a lot of differing of opinions on player’s draft status.