Kyle Hamilton set to be Notre Dame's 100th NFL Draft pick since 2000, other draft notes
On Tuesday, PFF released a graphic showing the top-10 schools in terms of NFL Draft picks since 2000. As you can see, Notre Dame does not make the list.
Where do the Irish — the school with the most NFL Draft picks of all time (520) — rank since the turn of the century?
Dating back to the 2000 NFL Draft, Notre Dame has had 99 players drafted. Quarterback Jarious Jackson was the only Irish player taken in 2000, and Ade Ogundeji was the most recent Notre Dame player drafted in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Takeaways from the list
A couple of things jump out when looking at this list and comparing the Notre Dame production over the last 21 years to the best competition.
If 99 players have been taken since 2000 and safety Kyle Hamilton is expected to be the first Irish player taken in the 2022 NFL Draft, that likely makes him No. 100. Additionally, Hamilton is set to be the 12th first-round pick out of Notre Dame in the same time span. Just two of the last 11 have been defensive players; defensive tackle Jerry Tillery was taken No. 28 overall in 2019, and safety Harrison Smith was taken No. 29 overall in 2012.
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Turning toward the national landscape, eight of the 10 teams on the list have won a national championship since 2000. Miami and Michigan are the exceptions. Texas and Clemson are the only two schools that have won national championships since 2000 but are not on the list. Obviously, Texas had a much better first half of the century, while Clemson didn’t rise until the second half.
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Most likely spots for Hamilton?
Since Hamilton is predicted to be one of the first players off the NFL Draft board, there isn’t much room for movement when it comes to predictions. The Georgia native remains a top-five pick on most boards, and his most likely landing spots are the Detroit Lions (No. 2 overall pick), Houston Texans (No. 3 overall pick) or New York Jets (No. 4 overall pick).
ESPN’s Todd McShay is all in on Hamilton, and he has him going third overall to the Houston Texans in his mock draft 2.0. Hamilton is McShay’s only projected first round safety.
“Number three, I’ve got Kyle Hamilton, safety from Notre Dame,” McShay said. “You might say it’s a little bit high, he had an injury, yeah I get it. But this guy is a freak. You don’t see many guys at safety with this length, and the range and the ball skills that he has. Eight interceptions since 2019. You look at the Texans, they could go in a different direction. Could be offensive line, could be pass rusher. They’re losing Justin Reid. I think Nick Caserio is going to look for a foundation piece, and Hamilton should be that.”
In three years at Notre Dame, Hamilton established himself as one of the top all-around defensive backs in college football. He racked up 138 total tackles in his collegiate career, adding 7.5 tackles for loss, eight interceptions, and 16 passes defended. This past season, Hamilton was limited to seven games, but he still had 34 tackles with two tackles for loss, three interceptions, and four passes defended.
On3’s Jonathan Wagner contributed to this report.
