With the NFL Draft just around the corner we’ve profiled the prospects we believe have a great to decent shot of hearing their name called in Detroit. Today, we talk about the remaining players coming out of Notre Dame who might find it a bit more difficult as professionals.

QB Sam Hartman
6-1 1/4, 212

At one point, Hartman’s NFL prospects looked decent. But, a return to school for a 6th season at Notre Dame signaled more to be done at the college level. That led to an invite to the NFL Combine which is a good sign at least. Last year, 15 quarterbacks were invited and 13 ended up being drafted. The exceptions were Tyson Bagent (made the Bears roster) and Malik Cunningham (signed to New England’s practice squad, later signed to Baltimore’s practice squad and currently being tried out at WR).

It’ll be a close call for Hartman. At times, his weaknesses really looked amplified at Notre Dame in terms of inconsistent mechanics, too many turnovers, and average arm strength.

Prediction: Undrafted Free Agent Signing by San Francisco

I don’t think Hartman’s lack of wow arm talent and athleticism is going to be enough for him to get drafted. However, he could be a good fit for the Kyle Shanahan offense. The Niners let backup Sam Darnold walk this off-season (after trading Trey Lance last August) and are going through plenty of changes in the bottom of their quarterback depth chart.

Joshua Dobbs was signed to a 1-year deal this off-season and San Francisco elected to re-sign Brandon Allen to another 1-year deal, as well. It’s a not insignificant $3.8 million cap hit for the pair but with Brock Purdy’s rookie deal running through 2025 there’s a practice-squad-to-roster-spot possibility down the road for Hartman.

CB Thomas Harper
5-10, 189

Nickelback continues to be an increasingly important position in the NFL and college yet it remains a difficult position to scout. You would think by the way Harper played in his final season with Notre Dame he’d have a great shot at being drafted. We thought the same about Tariq Bracy’s career but he ended up not signing a professional contract following 2022.

Harper leaves the Irish with a similar profile to Bracy, including very similar size.

Prediction: Undrafted Free Agent by Detroit

The Lions released corner Cameron Sutton just weeks ago after a warrant was issued for his arrest. The team also traded for Tampa Bay corner Carlton Davis for a 3rd round pick. It’s expected Detroit looks to add more corner depth in this draft and this could be a place that gives Haper a shot down the road.

S DJ Brown
6-0 3/4, 199

I went back and looked at when DJ Brown signed for Notre Dame and a reader in the comment section remarked that he really struggled catching the football. So it would go that in the premier game against Ohio State last year, Brown dropped the would-be game winning interception with 37 seconds remaining. It was the type of play that would’ve cemented Brown as a tiny legend.

Nooooooooo.

Brown was just inside the top 500 in his class and originally recruited as a cornerback. His early career was okay but he really struggled in the last couple of seasons at safety and never seemed to play with the physicality required to excel. He finishes his Notre Dame career with 152 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 4 interceptions but remained a co-starter for a long time due to poorly recruited depth.

Prediction: No Contract