Notre Dame Football: Early look at 2021 NFL Draft prospects

With the 2020 draft said and done, the NFL scouting community sets its sights on the 2021 class and it should be another deep one for the Irish.

This past weekend, Notre Dame saw six of its former football student-athletes have their dreams become realities with their names called in the 2020 NFL draft. Another six were signed to undrafted free agent deals – making a total of 12 former football players currently fighting for NFL jobs.

What better to do now, then look toward next year’s draft and speculate what prospects could declare and where they might land. Much like this year, it looks like six to seven draftees is a pretty safe bet, with the possibility of more if they have some surprising declarations.

At this point last year, it seemed as though Ian Book would be entering his name while many felt Cole Kmet would stay for his senior season. Now, Book is all set for his 5th year in South Bend and Kmet was the first Notre Dame pick of the 2020 draft.

As with any collegiate season, there will be players who are expected to be drafted early in the first round of the NFL Draft who see their draft stock plummet due to a poor season or due to injury. Conversely, there are those players who will seemingly come out of nowhere to have an incredible season and will consequently skyrocket up NFL Draft boards.

With so many former Notre Dame players leaving the team to enter the NFL Draft, there are a number of fresh faces who are set to make their mark in front of a national audience in hopes of being the next high draft pick for the Fighting Irish. So who should we expect or look for in next year’s crop? Let’s take a look at the Notre Dame 2021 prospects.