Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer slides out of NFL Draft first round
Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer was supposed to be picked in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night. Every reputable prognosticator had Mayer getting selected sometime on the first day of the draft.
But it didn’t happen.
The most decorated tight end in the history of Notre Dame football won’t hear his name called until sometime Friday in the second or third round. Mayer finished his college career with 180 catches for 2,099 yards and 18 touchdowns in just three seasons. No Notre Dame tight end has ever put up better numbers in any of those three categories.
Mayer was trying to join a group of five first-round tight end selections out of Notre Dame; Ken MacAfee (1978), Tony Hunter (1983), Derek Brown (1992), Irv Smith (1993) and Tyler Eifert (2013). Notre Dame has had 25 tight ends picked at any point in the draft’s history, which is more than any other program in the country.
Per ESPN’s “best available” rankings, Mayer is the second-best overall player who did not get picked in the first round behind Kentucky quarterback Will Levis. Only one tight end was picked in the first round. The Buffalo Bills traded selected Utah’s Dalton Kincaid with the No. 25 overall pick.
Many analysts believed the Dallas Cowboys could have went with Mayer at No. 26 overall. The ESPN broadcast drew comparisons to former Cowboys tight end Jason Witten. The Cowboys instead bolstered their defensive line by taking tackle Mazi Smith out of Michigan.
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The next logical choice for Mayer was to the Cincinnati Bengals at No. 28. The Bengals have had success taking a Notre Dame tight end in the late stages of the first round. They took Eifert with the No. 21 overall selection in 2013, but they took Clemson defensive tackle Myles Murphy this year.
Eifert started 15 games as a rookie and ultimately started 37 of 59 games played over seven seasons in Cincinnati. He had 221 catches for 2,501 yards and 26 touchdowns in his eight-year career.
Mayer cruised past Eifert’s records at Notre Dame. He could very well eclipse those professional numbers, too. But he’s going to have to wait one more day to figure out where he will get started in trying to do so. Mayer was watching Thursday’s first round with a large gathering of family and friends in his hometown of Independence, Ky.
The second round of the draft begins at 7 p.m. ET.
