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Cole Kmet, Chase Claypool Still Seen As Notre Dame’s Top Draft Prospects

Consult most any big board or expanded mock draft, and Cole Kmet will appear as the first tight end listed. Barring a deviant or different-thinking team, which is can never quite be ruled out, Kmet’s selection will likely mark the third time in the last nine NFL Drafts where the first tight end chosen is from Notre Dame.

Going off most draft analysts’ views, the question regarding Kmet is not which other tight end could go ahead of him, but where he is drafted. That is where projections begin to differ. Some have him going in the first round. Others don’t see him being selected until round three.

Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr joined a group of analysts who put Kmet in the first round in his most recent mock, released Tuesday. Orr has Kmet as the No. 23 overall pick to the New England Patriots.

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Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet after a catch for a first down against Virginia last fall
Kmet is appearing as a first-round pick in some mock drafts and is the consensus top tight end. (USA TODAY)

“How Belichickian! The entire world expects him to select a Tom Brady heir apparent and instead he takes a powerful tight end who can gobble footballs in the red zone,” Orr wrote. “Kmet must improve as a run blocker in order to fit harmoniously into New England’s scheme, but the Patriots have the coaching talent to make that happen. I’m clearly higher on Kmet than many; someone like LSU linebacker Patrick Queen also makes some sense here.”

Meanwhile, CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson has Kmet lasting until the No. 75 overall pick, in the third round, going to the Indianapolis Colts in his seven-round mock draft. The Colts have been one of the most commonly linked teams to Kmet.

“Kmet is the No. 1 tight end in an admittedly weak class, but Indy has moved on from Eric Ebron and Kmet is a natural replacement,” Wilson wrote.

Walter Football’s Walter Cherepinksy offered the same prognostication in his own seven-round mock, writing “the Colts need offensive weapons, and that would include a second tight end to replace Ebron.”

ESPN’s Todd McShay, in his March 30 mock, slotted Kmet at No. 44 overall to the Colts in the second round.

“Finally, a tight end comes off the board,” McShay wrote. “The Colts already have Jack Doyle in the locker room, but they also lost Eric Ebron, and Philip Rivers loves finding his tight ends. Kmet can make the tough, contested catches.”

McShay also had ex-Irish wide receiver Chase Claypool in the second round, going No. 54 to the Buffalo Bills.

“Claypool brings size to a wide receiver group already flush with downfield threats in Stefon Diggs and John Brown. Now Josh Allen has a tall target to find in the red zone, too. Claypool has the hands and strength to make contested catches look easy.”

If Kmet or another tight end is not selected in the first round, a three-year streak of NFL drafts with at least one tight end going in the first 32 picks will end. That last happened in 2016. The first round has featured at least one tight end in six of the last ten drafts. Only two of the last ten have gone more than 35 picks without a tight end selection: 2015 (Minnesota’s Maxx Williams was the first one drafted at No. 55) and 2011 (Notre Dame’s Kyle Rudolph was the No. 43 pick). Former Notre Dame All-American Tyler Eifert was the first tight end drafted in 2013 and was a first-rounder at No. 20 overall.

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Kmet was one of three Notre Dame players off the board early in the third round of Wilson’s seven-round exercise. Claypool was the No. 66 selection, going to the Washington Redskins as the first Irish player drafted. Defensive end Julian Okwara immediately followed, going to the Detroit Lions. Cornerback Troy Pride Jr. (No. 89, Minnesota Vikings), was the last Notre Dame player to appear in the third round.

Elsewhere, Wilson slotted defensive end Khalid Kareem to the New York Giants in the fourth round at No. 110 overall and safety Alohi Gilman to the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round at No. 175.

Cherepinsky also had Claypool as the first Notre Dame player drafted, at No. 44 to the Colts. Five more Notre Dame players appeared in total: Pride Jr. (third round, No. 88, New Orleans Saints), Okwara (third round, No. 99, Giants), Kareem (fourth round, No. 138, Kansas City Chiefs), Gilman (sixth round, No. 188, Bills) and safety Jalen Elliott (sixth round, No. 198, Pittsburgh Steelers).

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