NFL DRAFT: Notre Dame’s Pro Day came and went and now it’s the waiting game

Solid number

Notre Dame half its Pro Day for the NFL Draft on Thursday with 20 former players on hand to participate and run drills for the scouts.

Much like the most recently held NFL Combine, ND’s pro day wasn’t very eye-opening. I’m not saying it was bad or good — it was just another step in the ridiculously long draft process, and there wasn’t a whole lot of “wow” going on in South Bend.

I’m not going to wade too deep into the speculative waters of draft stock based off of the pro day performance, but I will say that Xavier Watts probably did himself a big favor with his 40 time (added to his 13 INT over the last two seasons), and he may be a solid round two option at safety.

I’m not sure how much it will mean come draft weekend (maybe a lot) but Riley Leonard has impressed quite a few people over the last 3 months with how he has handled his draft process. While Leonard won’t be drafted until day three, he may have increased his stock enormously.

While Notre Dame doesn’t have a lot of flash for the 1st and 2nd round this year, I still think they will have 7-8 players drafted when it’s all said and done — which is a solid draft regardless of where they get selected.

Normally I don’t get involved with ranking Irish players in the draft, here’s my current ranking in terms of who gets drafted the highest:

1. CB Benjamin Morrison
2. S Xavier Watts
3. DT Rylie Mills
4. LB Jack Kiser
5. QB Riley Leonard
6. TE Mitchell Evans
7. DT Howard Cross
8. WR Beaux Collins

Don’t judge that list too harshly — I’m sure I’ll change it up at some point over the next few weeks.