Notre Dame 2020 NFL Draft Summary
Through 10 NFL Drafts in the Brian Kelly era, a total of 45 Notre Dame players have been selected, notably a minimum of six in five of the last eight years and each of the last two.
The high mark occurred in 2014 with eight (two of them as juniors). With six more selected this year, Notre Dame now has had 511 chosen since the debut of the NFL Draft in 1936.
Earlier in the week we reported Notre Dame at 504, but a Notre Dame spokesman indicated that an oversight in their books made it 505.
Thus, with the Fighting Irish adding six this year and USC media relations officially listing the Trojans number at 509 entering this season — and USC getting two drafter this week — the two rivals would now tied for most players drafted with 511 apiece.
Here is the 2020 summary plus a little Notre Dame history on the teams that selected the Fighting Irish players:
Tight End Cole Kmet
Selected: Second round, No. 43 overall
Team: Chicago Bears
Kmet is the first Notre Dame player drafted by the Bears since guard Mike Gandy in 2001.
Notable Fact: For the third time under Kelly, Notre Dame had the first tight end selected in the NFL Draft. The first two were Kyle Rudolph (2011, second round, No. 43 overall, just like Kmet) and Tyler Eifert (2013, first round, No. 21).
Top Three Notre Dame Players To Play For Chicago:
1. Lineman/Linebacker George Connor — With his combination of size and speed, he revolutionized the linebacker position while playing for his hometown Bears from 1948-55 and earning first-team All-Pro honors five times en route to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
2. Lineman George Trafton — An original “Monster of the Midway,” he too is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a brilliant career from 1922-32.
3. Safety Dave Duerson — Four-time Pro Bowl selection while playing in the Windy City from 1983-89, he was part of the legendary 1985 Bears defense that resulted in their most recent Super Bowl title.
Wide Receiver Chase Claypool
Selected: Second round, No. 49 overall
Team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt had been the most recent Fighting Irish player drafted by the Steelers, nearly in the same spot in 2014 — second round, No. 46 overall.
Notable Fact: In the 50 years since 1970, only three other wide receivers from Notre Dame were selected higher than Claypool: first-rounders Tim Brown (1988), Michael Floyd (2012) and Will Fuller (2016).
Raghib “Rocket” Ismail would have been had he not signed first with the CFL.
Top Three Notre Dame Players To Play For Steelers:
1. Running back Jerome Bettis — After spending his first three years with the Rams, “The Bus” played his final 10 seasons in Pittsburgh, culminating with a Super Bowl title, on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
2. Running back Rocky Bleier — One of the great against-all-odd stories in NFL annals, he came back severely wounded from the Vietnam War and was told he would always walk with a limp. He ended up starting on four Super Bowl champs from 1971-80, and had another season where he eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards.
3. Linebacker Myron Pottios — In three of his five years in the Steel City from 1961-65, he made the Pro Bowl three times, and missed one full season with an injury.
Defensive End Julian Okwara
Selected: Third round, No. 67 overall
Team: Detroit Lions
First Notre Dame player drafted by Detroit since wide receiver TJ Jones in the sixth round in 2014.
Notable Fact: Joining fellow end and older brother Romeo on the roster, the Okwaras will be the first brothers from Notre Dame to play together in the NFL since Ross Browner and Jim Browner were both with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1979-80.
Offensive linemen Zack Martin (Dallas) and Nick Martin (Houston) are currently in the same state, but not the same team.
Top Three Notre Dame Players To Play For Lions:
1. End Leon Hart — The 1949 Heisman Trophy winner starred for eight years with the franchise (1950-57) while playing on both sides of the ball, earning first-team All-Pro honors in just his second year. The Lions won NFL titles in 1952, 1953 and his final season in 1957, when he lined up at fullback.
2. Running back Nick Pietrosante — Two-time Pro Bowl selection rushed for nearly 4,000 yards and nabbed 134 passes during his seven seasons with the Lions from 1959-65.
3. Wide receiver Golden Tate — Consistently productive in his four full seasons at Detroit (2014-17) with at least 90 catches each year, earning Pro Bowl status in his first year with the organization.
Cornerback Troy Pride Jr.
Selected: Fourth round, No. 113 overall
Team: Carolina Panthers
The first Fighting Irish alumnus drafted by the Panthers since quarterback Jimmy Clausen (2010) in the second round.
Notable Fact: In Kelly’s 10 seasons with the Irish, the lone cornerbacks taken higher were KeiVarae Russell in 2016, in the third round as the No. 74 overall selection, and Pride classmate Julian Love last year — also in the fourth round but five spots higher (No. 108) by the New York Giants.
Top Three Notre Dame Players To Play For the Panthers:
1. Long Snapper J.J. Jansen — It’s hardly a snap to make millions in such a specialized role the way Jansen has during an 11-year career so far (2009-19) at Carolina.
2. Quarterback Steve Beuerlein — His best years statistically during a 1988-2003 NFL career were with the expansion team Panthers from 1996-2000, highlighted by a Pro Bowl appearance in 1999. Beuerlein threw for 12,690 yards and 86 touchdowns at Carolina.
3t. Fullback Anthony Johnson and safety Pat Terrell — Teammates on the 1988 national champs, both joined Beuerlein as regulars in the late 1990s. Johnson rushed for 1,795 yards and caught 103 passes, while Terrell started 34 games in three years.
Defensive End Khalid Kareem
Selected: Fifth round, No. 147 overall
Team: Cincinnati Bengals
The first Irish player drafted by the Bengals since first-round tight end Tyler Eifert in 2013.
Notable Fact: With classmate Okwara drafted in the third round by Detroit, this marks the first time Notre Dame has had two classmates at defensive end drafted in the same year since 1978 with Ross Browner (first round) and Willie Fry (second round).
Top Three Notre Dame Players To Play For Cincinnati:
1. Defensive Tackle Ross Browner — Although not nearly as dominant as he was in college, mainly because of moving from end to tackle, he started 123 games in his eight years (1979-86) at Cincinnati and recorded 29.5 sacks. He holds the Super Bowl record for solo stops by a lineman (10, including a sack) in the 26-21 loss to former Irish teammate Joe Montana’s 49ers in 1982.
2. Tight End Tyler Eifert — Now with Jacksonville, Eifert was one of the league’s top tight ends when healthy while with the Bengals from 2013-19. He had 36 starts and caught 185 passes for 2,152 yards and 24 scores. In 2015 he was a Pro Bowl pick.
3. Defensive Tackle Oliver Gibson — Started 57 consecutive games during his five-year stint in the Queen City from 1999-2003.
Safety Alohi Gilman
Selected: Sixth round, No. 186 overall
Team: Los Angeles Chargers
Gilman is the first football non-graduate transfer from Notre Dame (from Navy in 2017) to be drafted by the NFL since fullback Larry Moriarty (Santa Barbara City College) in 1983.
Another transfer, Pat Eilers from Yale, played six years in the NFL after excelling at Notre Dame from 1987-89, but he was a free agent after not getting drafted.
Notable Fact: Gilman will join former Fighting Irish defensive linemen Isaac Rochell and Jerry Tillery plus linebacker Drue Tranquill in Los Angeles, plus a couple of Fighting Irish free agents (see below).
Top Three Notre Dame Players To Play For Los Angeles/San Diego:
Because this franchise didn’t make the move to Los Angeles until 2017, we will include the days from San Diego from 1961-2016.
1. Kicker John Carney — The fourth all-time leading scorer in NFL history played 11 seasons with the Chargers (1990-2000), where he converted 261 field goals in 320 attempts (.816 percentage) and tallied a franchise record 1,076 points.
2. Tight end Pete Holohan — Seventh-round pick enjoyed productive seven years in the organization (1981-87) with 174 catches for 2,073 yards and seven touchdowns before also excelling elsewhere.
3. Linebacker Manti Te’o — Second-round pick recorded 221 tackles in four seasons, with the last in 2016 when he played only three games after an injury.
The undrafted free agents who signed were running back Tony Jones Jr. (New Orleans), wide receiver Chris Finke (San Francisco), defensive end Jamir Jones (Houston), linebacker Asmar Bilal (Los Angeles Chargers), cornerback Donte Vaughn (Los Angeles Chargers) and safety Jalen Elliott (Detroit).
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