Latest CBS Sports NFL mock drafts predict a lighter Notre Dame yield after Kyle Hamilton

Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton’s wait a week from Thursday in the NFL Draft is expected to be a short one, even if he is selected in the back end of his projected top-10 to top-15 range. He was one of 21 players invited to the draft’s green room. Those prospects are usually selected by the end of the first round. Many go early in it.

Hamilton will be the highest-drafted Notre Dame defensive player since Bryant Young in 1994 if he goes in the top 20. Mock drafts and prospect rankings suggest that’s a lock, and some still give him a shot to go higher than Young, who was the No. 7 overall pick.

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After Hamilton, though, Notre Dame might be waiting a while to have a second player drafted this year. And the Irish are likely to have their fewest selections in a half-decade.

Two recent CBS Sports seven-round mock drafts have only three Notre Dame players in them: Hamilton, running back Kyren Williams and quarterback Jack Coan. The latter two are Day 3 picks in both. Another CBS Sports mock has four Irish players in it, with wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. added as a late-round selection.

CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson’s seven-round mock has Williams going in the fourth round (109th overall) to the Seattle Seahawks and Coan as a sixth-round pick (215th overall) to the Arizona Cardinals. CBS’ Chris Trapasso has Williams as a sixth-rounder going No. 178 overall to the Dallas Cowboys and Coan as a seventh-round pick (No. 232 overall) to the Denver Broncos.

Finally, CBS’ Josh Edwards slotted Williams as a fourth-round pick (136th overall) to the Cincinnati Bengals. He has Coan and Austin as sixth-round picks to the Tennessee Titans at No. 204 overall and 219th, respectively.

Austin’s ebbs and flows last season — his only one as a starter — and injury history lend themselves to a wide range of draft outcomes on Day 3, including going undrafted. But in the context of his NFL Combine performance, him not being selected would break a decade-long trend.

Austin ran a 4.43 40-yard dash and posted a 39-inch vertical jump. Each of the 15 wide receivers who ran a 4.45 or better and jumped 39 inches or higher at the combine from 2015-20 were drafted. The last players to hit both numbers and not be picked were Stanford’s Chris Owusu and UConn’s Kashif Moore in 2012.

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Even if Notre Dame has four players chosen in the draft, it would tie the program’s lowest since 2018 and mark its second fewest since 2017. Its three-year streak of at least six selections will assuredly be snapped.

Hamilton, though, is in position to reach rare air among Irish defensive draft prospects. All three CBS mocks predict he will be just the third Notre Dame defender to become a top-15 pick since 1979. Trapasso still projects him in the top five, going No. 4 to the New York Jets.

“No fall for Hamilton,” Trapasso wrote. “[Jets coach] Robert Saleh needs quality safety play in his system and will get that from the former Notre Dame star.”

Edwards pegs him as the No. 11 pick to the Washington Commanders, the most common predicted landing spot for him in the last couple weeks’ worth of mocks.

“Hamilton is an instinctual player who can erase tight ends or play downhill and make plays in the backfield,” Edwards wrote. “He is the type of prospect who will endear himself to [Commanders coach] Ron Rivera.”

Wilson slotted Hamilton one pick later, at No. 12 to the Minnesota Vikings.

“Hamilton ran in the 4.5s at the combine and was timed in the 4.7s at his pro day,” Wilson wrote. “This shouldn’t see him slip on draft boards because he plays much faster, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. If he finds his way out of the top 10, the Vikings could pounce here, especially if two cornerbacks are already off the board.”