Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JUNE/JULY 2020 35 way Romeo has handled Julian and letting Julian be who he is." COLE KMET STAYS HOME The first Notre Dame player off the board was tight end Cole Kmet, the program's lone junior to declare for the draft this year. There were projections he might go in the first round to a team like the New England Patriots. Instead, he went to the Chicago Bears with the No. 43 overall pick and was the first tight end chosen. The next player at his position to come off the board was UCLA's Devin Asiasi — 48 spots later. After the call from the Bears man- agement, Kmet was elated — and it wasn't just because of the $7,577,778 his contract is estimated to be worth. He is a lifelong Chicago-area native. "I can't believe this is happening, just being in Chicago and being able to be picked by my hometown team is an unbelievable feeling," he said that evening. The next day, several dozen ve- hicles participated in a parade for Kmet, driving by his house in the Chicago suburbs and honking their horns. Several vehicles even donned giant Chicago Bears logos. While many Chicagoans were ex- cited about the Kmet selection, a large portion of national pundits were actu- ally quite critical of it. Some pointed to the several tight ends already on the Bears' roster, while ESPN's Mike Tannenbaum said Kmet was too slow to ever be a threat in the passing game — a notion Kelly scoffed at. "I don't remember Mike being at any of our practices as [Kmet] ran down the field," Kelly said. The other underrated aspect of Kmet's future development is for the first time in his athletic career, he will focus on only one sport. Even at Notre Dame, the 6-5 physical specimen di- vided his time between football and baseball, which will no longer be the case now that he's with the Bears. From now on, it's all football for Kmet. CHASE CLAYPOOL'S COMBINE PERFORMANCE PAYS OFF Even after Claypool had 13 touch- down catches and more than 1,000 receiving yards in 2019, it was still rather unclear how high his NFL ceil- ing was. At first, the projections were all over the place, with some ana- lysts seeing him as a third-round pick while others believed he'd fall to the fourth or fifth rounds. That all changed almost the mo- ment Claypool showed up at the 2020 NFL Combine. First, Claypool mea- sured at 6-4 and 238 pounds, followed by a 4.42-second 40-yard dash. Out- side former All-Pro wide receiver Cal- vin Johnson, no player of that size had ever produced such a blazing time. Suddenly, his day-three projections turned into first- or second-round forecasts. Ultimately, the Pittsburgh Steel- ers scooped Claypool up in the sec- ond round with the No. 49 overall p i c k , a n d h e signed a con- tract with an es- timated value of $6,616,625. For c o m p a r i s o n ' s sake, the most valuable fourth- round contract is worth just over $4 million, meaning Clay- pool's combine p e r f o r m a n c e q u i c k l y p a i d dividends. N o w t h a t Claypool's of- ficially in the NFL, more than just his freak athleticism should shine. At Notre Dame, Claypool was a fierce competitor from the moment he set foot on campus, which is a trait his new coaches should benefit from in the future. "Being ultra-competitive is just who I am. I brought that to [Notre Dame] on day one," Claypool told reporters after the draft. "I came in with a chip on my shoulder. Coming from Canada, not a lot of guys get re- spect off the bat, as you can imagine. "Respect was earned for me and that was through tough, physical play and just being competitive." TROY PRIDE JR. RETURNS TO THE CAROLINAS Troy Pride Jr. first made a name for himself as a high school track star in South Carolina, where he won four state titles his senior year. He then went on to contribute in all four sea- sons of his Notre Dame career and became a vocal team leader. Flash forward almost four years, and Pride has returned to the Caro- linas, but this time as a professional football player. The Charlotte Panthers selected the speedster, who ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, in the fourth round with the No. 113 overall pick. Pride's contract has an estimated value of $4,072,477. While this wasn't too much later than most analysts saw Pride getting picked, the self-assured cornerback still feels slighted and will be out to prove his doubters wrong. Wide receiver Chase Claypool cashed in on his MVP senior year as a second-round pick. PHOTO COURTESY PITTSBURGH STEELERS UNDRAFTED FREE AGENTS In addition to the six draftees, six Notre Dame players signed with NFL teams as un- drafted free agents: • Asmar Bilal, LB, Los Angeles Chargers • Jalen Elliott, S, Detroit Lions • Chris Finke, WR, San Francisco 49ers • Jamir Jones, DE, Houston Texans • Tony Jones Jr., RB, New Orleans Saints • Donte Vaughn, CB, Los Angeles Chargers Cole Kmet was the third tight end under Brian Kelly to be the first taken at his position in the NFL Draft, joining Kyle Rudolph (2011) and Tyler Eifert (2013). PHOTO COURTESY CHICAGO BEARS