CBS Sports Predicts Seven Former Notre Dame Players Drafted
NFL Draft analyst RJ White of CBS Sports released his final seven-round mock draft earlier this week.
White projects seven former Notre Dame players to get their name called over Zoom this week, but the order might surprise some.
Round 3 Pick 69
The first Notre Dame prospect to get taken off the board is cornerback Troy Pride Jr. White projects Carolina to take the speedy 69th pick overall.
If Pride is the first Notre Dame player taken, it would be surprising, but at the same time, I wouldn't be totally blown away by it. Pride has received positive feedback from several teams and the NFL does put a premium on speed, which Pride has plenty of as he enters the draft.
Pride would join cornerback Cole Luke and long snapper JJ Jansen.
Round 3 Pick 87
White has the Detroit Lions making a trade with the Patriots to take a hometown product in defensive end Khalid Kareem.
Scouts and others have projected Kareem to go anywhere from the late second round to the fourth round, so seeing him go in the third seems about right. Kareem is coming off tearing his labrum, which has caused his stock to drop a little bit, but whoever gets him is getting one of most technically sound ends in the draft.
Kareem would be teammates with defensive end Romeo Okwara.
Round 3 Pick 90
Julian Okwara could very well go higher as he can rush the passer with his unique twitch, but White has him going 87th overall to Houston.
Okwara would join a very good defensive line and play opposite JJ Watt. Not a bad situation.
Notre Dame already has had good success with Houston as Will Fuller and Nick Martin headline the Texans offense.
Round 3 Pick 94
Cole Kmet is all over the place in mock drafts ranging anywhere from the first round to the fourth round. Depending on what analyst you read, Kmet may have fallen from his top tight end spot, which would cause a little bit of a drop for him.
White has the Packers taking the Chicago native and if Kmet is looking for a good situation, I would imagine this would be one of the best.
Kmet would be reunited with Equanimeous St. Brown and Dexter Williams.
Round 3 Pick 97
This also seems a little low, but White has Chase Claypool going to the Browns at No. 97. Now, in White's defense, the receiver class is ridiculously deep and a run on other positions could very well happen a few times between the first tier of receivers and the next two tiers.
Claypool here would be a steal and would have mentors in the room, so Cleveland wouldn't be a bad fit for a player who likely needs some seasoning.
However, I don't expect Claypool to last past the second round.
Round 7 Pick 240
Houston hasn't a problem taking pure football players and Alohi Gilman would be in that category. Gilman's testing numbers weren't bad by any means and better than most expected, but at the same time, the numbers aren't screaming at you.
That's not a bad thing as some of the NFL's best players are just pure football players.
Gilman would end the drought of Notre Dame guys not being taken in rounds four, five and six in White's draft.
Round 7 Pick 249
Minnesota needs to replace some lost talent in the secondary and Jalen Elliott seems like a low risk and a very low risk in the seventh round.
Mike Zimmer is one of the best to do it on the defensive side of the ball, so Elliott would be hard-pressed to find a better fit.
Elliott would join Kyle Rudolph and Harrison Smith.