The Notre Dame football team's success over the years has led to more than a handful of former Fighting Irish stars graduating to the NFL. On Sunday, more than two dozen ex-Golden Domers made an appearance as the National Football League season officially kicked off.
Unsurprisingly, rookies like Jeremiyah Love grabbed the most headlines, but there's plenty of veteran representation on active rosters as well. There's in fact, so many former Irish players that spread across one team or another that the average fan might even forget some of their names and that they're still in the league.
Former Notre Dame football players in Week 1 of the NFL season
Quarterbacks
- Riley leonard is currently the backup quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. While Daniel Jones was far from stellar in his team's 41-23 loss to the Ravens, Leonard didn't see any action.
Running backs
- Jeremiyah Love was the marquee former Notre Dame rookie in the NFL on Sunday, though the Arizona Cardinals didn't treat him like one. Love did get his first NFL touchdown, but he only tallied 11 carries for 41 yards, while also hauling in 2 catches for another 9 yards. Not terrible for his first-ever NFL game, but Tyler Allgeier got the bulk of the carries in the Cards' 26-14 win.
Wide receivers
- Malachi Fields also made his rookie debut for the New York Giants. He notched 2 catches for 25 yards in his team's 28-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
- Ben Skowronek played 18 total snaps for the Pittsburgh Steelers, all on special teams. He did not record a statistic.
Tight ends
Notre Dame believes it has a very strong claim as Tight End U. It's hard to argue that point when you look at six different former Irish players at the position, each tallying at least one catch. Add in Eli Raridon, the first player in the NFL to score a touchdown this year, and that's a total of seven former Notre Dame tight ends contributing to their teams.
- Cole Kmet, Bears: 2 catches, 35 yards, 1 TD.
- Michael Mayer, Raiders: 6 catches, 32 yards.
- Tommy Tremble, Panthers: 3 catches, 25 yards.
- Mitchell Evans, Panthers: 1 catch, 9 yards.
- Durham Smythe, Ravens: 1 catch, 4 yards.
- Brock Wright, Lions: 1 catch, 5 yards.
Offensive linemen
- Ronnie Stanley, OT, Ravens: Started at left tackle. He scored a 56.3 overall rating according to PFF and a 69.6 pass block rating.
- Quenton Nelson, OG, Colts: Started at left guard. Played 54 snaps and scored an 83.3 overall PFF rating.
- Robert Hainsey, C, Jaguars: Started at center. Played 50 snaps and scored a 60.7 PFF rating.
- Blake Fisher, OT, Texans: Came off the bench for 10 snaps on the offensive line and 5 snaps on special teams. He scored a 60.3 overall rating.
- Joe Alt, OT, Chargers: Started at right tackle and had 55 snaps. He registered a 67.2 PFF rating and an 82.7 pass blocking grade.
- Aaron Banks, OG, Packers: Inactive.
- Billy Schrauth, OG, Buccaneers: Inactive.
Defensive linemen
- Jerry Tillery, DT, Colts: 3 tackles.
- Gabriel Rubio, DT, Steelers: Was on the active roster but didn't record a snap.
Linebackers
Javontae Jean-Baptiste, OLB, Commanders: He tallied 14 snaps but didn't record a statistic. He had 9 snaps on the defensive line and 5 on special teams.
Defensive backs
The six former Notre Dame defensive backs who played on Sunday were joined by Julian Love who once again announced he's one of the best safeties in the NFL when he played for the Seahawks on Wednesday night.
- Kyle Hamilton, S, Ravens: 5 tackles.
- Xavier Watts, S, Falcons: 4 tackles.
- Benjamin Morrison, CB, Buccaneers: 4 solo tackles.
- Cam Hart, CB, Chargers: 6 tackles.
- Thomas Harper, S, Lions: 3 solo tackles.
- Harrison Smith, S, Vikings: 1 tackle.
Kicker / specialist
- Spencer Shrader, K, Colts: 1-for-1 on field goals, including a 58-yarder; 2-for-3 on extra points.
- Blake Grupe, K, Jets: Did not kick.
- Brandon Aubrey, K, Cowboys: 2-for-3 on extra points; no field-goal attempts.
- JJ Jansen, LS, Panthers: Handled long-snapping duties. He had 9 snaps.
Several other Notre Dame alumni were attached to NFL teams but weren't in action because they were on the reserve/IR/PUP lists. JD Bertrand, Beaux Collins, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Marist Liufau, Audric Estimé, Carson Towt and Sam Mustipher all checked that box.
Howard Cross III, Isaiah Foskey, Jack Kiser, DeVonta Smith, Chris Smith, Scott Daly, Jordan Clark, Max Hurleman and Sam Hartman are all on NFL practice squads.
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