Baltimore Ravens draft Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton 14th overall
The idea of Kyle Hamilton as a three-and-done first-round pick arose the day he first put on a Notre Dame jersey in fall camp.
Hamilton snagged three interceptions in his first college practice, the Irish’s training camp opener at Culver Academy in August 2019. It was clear then Notre Dame had an impact player on its hands. That’s when Hamilton and the letters N-F-L were first uttered in the same sentence. All he did from there was pour more gas on the idea over the next three seasons.
Nearly three years and 31 games since that first practice, the long-held expectation is now official.
The Baltimore Ravens selected Hamilton in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft Thursday night with the No. 14 overall pick. He was the first safety and seventh defensive player taken.
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“The Ravens at 14 got a player who has to be in everyone’s top five consensus rankings,” NFL Network analyst Charles Davis said on the draft broadcast. “He’s my favorite player in the draft. I think he can do everything on the football field, plus the maturity tacked on.”
Hamilton is the first Notre Dame player picked in the first round since defensive tackle Jerry Tillery went 28th overall 2019. No Irish defensive back had gone in the first round since safety Harrison Smith (No. 29 overall) in 2012. All told, he’s the 70th first-round pick in Notre Dame history and the highest-drafted Irish defensive player since defensive tackle Bryant Young in 1994 (No. 7 overall).
“It’s crazy,” Hamilton told NFL Network on stage. “It doesn’t sound real. I just want to thank them for taking a chance on me.”
Per Spotrac, Hamilton will sign a four-year rookie contract worth $16.2 million and a $9 million signing bonus.
Hamilton made 138 career tackles (7.5 for loss) to go with 16 passes broken up and eight interceptions. Per Pro Football Focus, he allowed catches on just 47.6 percent of the passes thrown his way (39 of 82) during his career. He allowed one touchdown and a 25.9 passer rating when targeted.
The 6-4, 220-pound Hamilton turned that training camp splash into an impact freshman season, posting a team-high four interceptions along with 41 tackles and six passes broken up. He returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown on his first snap at Notre Dame Stadium. By the end of that season, it wasn’t a matter of if Hamilton would be a first-round draft pick, but when and how high he could go.
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Hamilton’s next two years built on his freshman breakout. He made a team-high 63 tackles in 11 games in 2020, helping Notre Dame reach the College Football Playoff. He was on track to set career-highs in several statistical categories before a knee injury in the USC game Oct. 23 knocked him out for the rest of the regular season. He declared for the draft in December, ending any thought he would return for the Fiesta Bowl. He finished with 35 tackles and three interceptions in seven games and was named a consensus All-American.
Most mock drafts and prospect rankings considered Hamilton a top-five pick when he declared. His pre-draft process, though, contributed to a drop from consensus top-five to top-15.
A 4.59 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine was slower than expected, but a strong workout otherwise prevented a widespread drop out of the top 10. That came, though, after several analysts reported he ran a 4.7 at Notre Dame pro day, much lower than the 4.56 official time Notre Dame reported.
“It is what it is,” Hamilton said of his 40 after pro day. “At the end of the day, we’re playing football.”
Hamilton remained a top-10 player in many prospect rankings after pro day, but appeared in the teens in most April mock drafts. The value NFL teams put on drafting safeties high — or lack thereof — worked against him too. Since 1992, only three have gone in the top five. Just three have been top-10 picks since 2010.
The popular counter to those positional value and 40 time questions? Trust the tape.
“I know that there’s been talk about his 40 time, and I didn’t know what he would run,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said recently on The Rich Eisen Show. “But I saw him in season and live with my own eyes. Nobody can outrun him on the field.”
A coaching colleague can confirm.
“I don’t care what his 40 time is,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said on the NFL Network broadcast. “When that ball goes up, he has already taken two steps in that direction.”
Hamilton is the 521st NFL draft pick in Notre Dame history. His selection marks the 85th straight year an Irish player has been drafted, including supplemental drafts. Hamilton, an Atlanta native, was the No. 62 player in the 2019 class, per the On3 Consensus.
