Ryan Roberts analyzes which Notre Dame Fighting Irish players could be drafted in the 2025 NFL Draft.
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00:00The 2025 NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday and several former Notre Dame standouts are hoping
00:05to hear their name call on the three days, seven rounds, 257 picks. Let's do some final predictions.
00:12Whose name is called, where the range is, and where their future lies on the NFL level next.
00:21Ryan Roberts from A to Z Sports breaking down everything Notre Dame football. Folks,
00:24this is my favorite time of the year. Get to combine my love for the NFL Draft with my love
00:29for Notre Dame football. Let's do some predictions here. Pretty good list of Notre Dame players who
00:35are hoping to hear their name call and continue their NFL dreams and start their NFL careers.
00:41So I think the debate of and the initial conversation around who will be the first
00:46Notre Dame player off the board is going to center around the secondary and the defensive backfield
00:52between former All-Americans, safety Xavier Watts, cornerback Benjamin Morrison. Both are projected
00:58relatively in the same range, top 64 selections. So potential top two rounds, first and second
01:03round picks. The question is who will go first? And my bet would be on today, Xavier Watts, which will
01:09surprise some because going into the year, you saw in every mock draft, Benjamin Morrison somewhere,
01:14probably in the mid to late first round conversation with the preseason shoulder injury
01:19on top of the season ending hip surgery. That projection as far as the medicals has just clouded
01:28things a little bit for me. And I just think that Xavier Watts, who had tremendous improvements this
01:32year, one of those guys that although not a dynamic athlete, always in the right spot, has great ball
01:38skills, has a just propensity to create big plays and force turnovers. I do think if there's a player that
01:44goes in the late first round, again, I'm not predicting, I'm saying both these guys end up going in the second round,
01:48so top 64 selections. But if there is one that goes in the late first round, I think it's Watts. I think he brings
01:55just kind of a cleaner projection, no injuries in his background. I think that that squeaky clean off the field
02:00conversation and the leadership he brings and the playmaking he brings all together makes him a guy that's
02:06continue to rise up boards. After that, there's four players to kind of figure out what the pecking order is here.
02:12Now, defensive tackle Riley Mills, if not for the injury against Indiana that has cost him the
02:17entirety of the draft process, if not for that, I do think that he had a possibility to sneak into
02:22day two. And that's rounds two through three, for people that don't know, top 102 picks, right? So
02:27102 for one of the first 102 selections, I think he had a chance to sneak in there. But right now,
02:33I think he's more than likely somewhere early day three, probably fourth to fifth round in that
02:37conversation. Riley Leonard is another person to know, obviously the quarterback.
02:42I think he's running around a fifth to sixth round player as of today. You also have Jack
02:47Kaiser, who's around roughly that same range as well, fifth to sixth, not the biggest body of all
02:52time. He doesn't have great length in his arms and as far as just his tackle radius in general,
02:57but he has speed, athleticism, a lot of experience, and a captain of Notre Dame. So all those things
03:01together, I think makes him a pretty easy evaluation as well. Last one, Mitchell Evans. Mitchell Evans
03:06going into the year was viewed probably somewhere around the third to fourth round, potentially the
03:09star tight ends banged up all year, wasn't incredibly productive, but I still think he
03:14gets drafted. I think it's somewhere around five to six, just based upon size experience and still
03:19upside. We're in four, six, nine and the 40 yard dash at the Notre Dame pro day. So there's still
03:24some athletic upside to boot, but if I had to rank those four, as far as where I think they'll come
03:28off the board right now, I'll go Riley Mills, Jack Kaiser, Riley Leonard, and Mitch Evans. That is my
03:36prediction for that. After that, we're talking about priority for agent types. RJ Oban, defensive
03:41end, obviously has the NFL bloodlines. Jordan Clark coming off a tremendous year for the Notre
03:45Dame team as well. Howard Cross is kind of the borderline guy. I don't think that he'll go
03:51undrafted necessarily, but he's around six to seven somewhere after these injury plagued year.
03:56He has obviously the smaller frame. I'll still predict he gets drafted, but there was a time before the
04:01year where I would have thought maybe a third to fourth round selection. Now we're talking about
04:05late day three potentially, but he's got the NFL bloodlines and I personally would not have
04:09bet against Howard Cross not making a football team on the NFL level in the year 2025. Folks,
04:16put in the chat right now, do it. Xavier Watts, Benjamin Morrison, who goes first? That second
04:21group of wave, Riley Mills, Riley Leonard, Jack Kaiser, and Mitchell Evans. Who goes first? If you want
04:27to put the full order down, go for it. Make sure you hit that like button and subscribe on your
04:31way out. And as always, go Irish.