A total of six former Notre Dame players heard their names called in the 2025 NFL Draft. The six draft picks this year place Notre Dame at 538 draft picks all-time, which is the best in the country. USC is next with 533.<\/p>\n
No Fighting Irish players were selected in the first round of this year\u2019s NFL Draft. But cornerback Benjamin Morrison<\/a> and safety Xavier Watts<\/a> were drafted in the second round. Morrison was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> with the 53rd<\/sup> overall pick. While Watts was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons with the 96th<\/sup> overall pick.<\/p>\n On day three, linebacker Jack Kiser<\/a> was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fourth round. In the fifth round, defensive lineman Rylie Mills<\/a> went to the Seattle Seahawks, and tight end Mitchell Evans<\/a> was drafted by the Carolina Panthers, where he will join former Notre Dame tight end Tommy Tremble.<\/p>\n Notre Dame\u2019s final player selected in this year\u2019s draft was quarterback Riley Leonard<\/a>. Picked 189th<\/sup> overall by the Indianapolis Colts, Leonard joins a crowded quarterback room in Indianapolis. The room also includes Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones.<\/p>\n In 2024, Leonard led the Fighting Irish to the National Championship game. All told, he completed 269-of403 passes for 2,861 yards last season. He threw 21 touchdown passes and eight interceptions. A dual-threat, Riley carried the ball 184 times for 906 rushing yards and 17 scores on the ground. In his collegiate career, he rushed for 2,130 yards on 413 carries and scored 36 touchdowns.<\/p>\n In a press conference at the conclusion of the NFL Draft, Chris Ballard, Colts general manager, commented on drafting Leonard.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that point in the draft, we liked Riley and we\u2019ve been following him,\u201d Ballard said. \u201cWe follow all these guys for their whole careers. We\u2019ve been following him from Duke and then he goes to Notre Dame and has a lot of success. He had been training with Philip Rivers. So, of course, that is a definite connection. But good to get him. He\u2019s a good player, a good athlete. We think he\u2019s got some upside. He\u2019ll come in and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n Following this year\u2019s draft, three former Notre Dame players signed undrafted free agent contracts. Defensive lineman Howard Cross III<\/a> will be joining former Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden with the Cincinnati Bengals. Safety Jordan Clark<\/a> signed with the New York Jets. And wide receiver Beaux Collins<\/a> signed a deal with the New York Giants.<\/p>\n Additionally, kicker Mitch Jeter<\/a> received an invitation to the Rookie Mini Camp from the Minnesota Vikings. And defensive lineman R.J. Oben<\/a> received an invitation from the Kansas City Chiefs. In total, 11 former Notre Dame players have been given a shot at making an NFL roster in the coming year.<\/p>\n As the dust settles on the 2025 NFL Draft, Notre Dame standouts are embarking on a sojourn of making an NFL roster. With Morrison, Watts, Kiser, Mills, Evans, and Leonard all hearing their names called, they have locked up an opportunity to prove their worth at the next level. All 11 players are sure to parlay their South Bend foundation with their commitment, skill, and resilience in the coming months to transition from the collegiate ranks and try to secure a coveted spot on an NFL roster to begin their professional careers.<\/p>\n Main Image: Samantha Madar\/Columbus Dispatch \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A total of six former Notre Dame players heard their names called in the 2025 NFL Draft. The six draft picks this year place Notre Dame at 538 draft picks all-time, which is the best in the country. USC is next with 533. No Fighting Irish players were selected in the first round of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4854,"featured_media":73710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11,17,35676],"tags":[33530,1512,5737,35056,2323,259,9091,35055],"class_list":["post-73706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fbs","category-independents","category-news","category-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-2025-nfl-draft","tag-al-golden","tag-anthony-richardson","tag-chris-ballard","tag-daniel-jones","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-philip-rivers","tag-tommy-tremble"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4854"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73706"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73711,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73706\/revisions\/73711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Riley Leonard Drafted by The Indianapolis Colts<\/h3>\n
Three Notre Dame Players Sign Undrafted Free Agent Contracts<\/h3>\n
Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n