Ranking every Notre Dame football first-round draft pick of the last 25 years
21. player. 56. . TE. Cincinnati Bengals. Tyler Eifert
No. 5 Notre Dame football first-round draft pick of the last 25 years: Tyler Eifert
2013 NFL Draft: Round 1, Pick 21
Cincinnati Bengals, 2013–2019
Jacksonville Jaguars, 2020
Tyler Eifert’s 2015 season was so spectacular — one in which he caught 13 touchdown passes and 74 passes overall to the tune of 615 receiving yards — that it single-handedly lifted the tight end’s legacy from an injury-riddle what-if to a one-year wonder.
Cincy Jungle’s Nick Manchester pointed out how even Eifert’s best season was ultimately marred by injury.
“2015 was his best season by far, as it was for many other Bengals,” Manchester prefaced before saying, “Playing in 13 games helped Eifert dominate the NFL, but even his best season was shortened due to injury. The Bengals would go on to lose in the Wild Card round of the playoffs without him in their last playoff appearance of the decade.”
Eifert retired following the 2020 season in Jacksonville, his only season not in Cincinnati — and unfortunately for him, the year Joe Burrow arrived. Eifert was someone who had a good career that may have been great if not for the injury bug.