Ryan Roberts discusses how former Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive tackle Howard Cross III landing with the Cincinnati Bengals is a great move.
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00:00there were six notre dame players that heard their name called during the 2025 nfl draft but
00:04even more that signed as undrafted free agents afterwards i want to talk about a player who is
00:11going to be going under the radar for their new team but i believe can have a role in 2025 and
00:17surprise a ton let's talk about him next ryan roberts from a to z sports bringing on everything
00:24notre dame football folks 2025 nfl draft is in the books six notre dame players were drafted during
00:31the three-day stretch in the marathon that ensued we had benjamin morrison come off the board in the
00:36second round to the tempe buccaneers xavier watts third round to the atlanta falcons fourth round
00:42jacksonville jaguars select linebacker jack kaiser fifth round couple guys that came off the board
00:47riley mills defensive lineman to the seattle seahawks we also had mitchell evans go to the
00:51carolina panthers and in the sixth round finally quarterback riley leonard was selected by the
00:57indianapolis coles to stay in the state of indiana which was pretty cool to see but i want to talk
01:02about some undrafted free agents and actually one in particular because we've seen jordan clark
01:07signed with the new york jets already already have seen several other guys but i want to really talk
01:12about one in particular howard cross the third signed with the cincinnati bangles and immediately
01:18some radars are probably going off a little bit because that means that he is going to be reunited
01:22with his former defensive coordinator al golden as the new defense play caller for cincinnati i really
01:29like this fit for several reasons okay first and foremost howard cross went undrafted this year
01:36because smaller body smaller frame but more than anything he was banged up all year you'll talk to
01:43scouts and see blesto grades before the season howard cross had a lot of early day three grades
01:49fourth to fifth round grades on him unfortunately he was not as good as he was in 2023 because he was
01:54hurt from the onset of the season and then he got more injured during the middle section of the season
01:59and he was hobbled i mean anybody that saw him play know that he was playing maybe at 50 by the end of
02:04the year like he was just it was a very injury riddled season and it was troubling because for a
02:10undersized guy he needs his explosiveness he needs that pop off the line of scrimmage he did not
02:15have that so you saw bad i don't say bad you saw lesser film than what you saw in 2023 and that did
02:24not overcompensate for the lack of size so he goes undrafted i still love the possibility of howard cross
02:31as long as he's healthy now that is we'll see if he's able to stay healthy ultimately on the nfl level
02:39but if he is then that means that the cincinnati bangles have a steal on their hands as an undrafted
02:44region because he was a he would have been drafted even in a deep defense attack class if he just
02:50repeated what he did in 2023 on full scale had a healthy draft process i believe that howard cross
02:56would have been drafted reunited with al golden in a position that doesn't really have a set rotation
03:04right now if you know anyone says any bangles in this rebuild defense was the main priority going
03:10into the draft they needed help on the defensive line they needed help on the second level with the
03:16linebackers they also need help with the secondary right so that's kind of kept talking about maybe
03:21benjamin morrison xavier waltz will be reunited but they did go on the edge very early in this class and
03:26got a player like shamar stewart in the first round but the interior defensive line was not a spot
03:31that was seemingly a priority but i really believe that if howard cross is healthy he has a chance to
03:37find a roster spot in 2025 and he finds a roster spot depending on health of others around him or
03:44the impact that he's making on a day-to-day perspective and practice don't be shocked if
03:48howard cross at least sees the field in 2025 and has a huge impact moving forward folks put into the
03:55chat right now who is the most undervalued prospect this year for notre dame who are you excited to
04:01watch in the nfl make sure you hit that like button subscribe on your way out and as always go irish