Notre Dame TE Michael Mayer declares for 2023 NFL Draft
Michael Mayer needed three seasons to set every major Notre Dame tight end record. It took him even less time to become a premier pro prospect.
Mayer will now chase that professional path.
The Notre Dame junior tight end has declared for the NFL Draft, he announced. He will not play against South Carolina in the Gator Bowl Dec. 30. ESPN was first to report the news.
“It has been an honor to wear the Gold helmet and share a locker room with my brothers the last three years,” Mayer said in his statement. “I want to say thank you to all of my coaches, staff and of course my teammates for making my Notre Dame experience unforgettable.”
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Mayer ends his 2022 season with 67 catches for 809 yards and 9 touchdowns. He ranks either first or second among FBS tight ends in all three categories. He is a finalist for the Mackey Award, which will be presented Dec. 8 to the nation’s best tight end.
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In 36 career games, Mayer became the most statistically impressive tight end in Notre Dame history, finishing with 180 catches for 2,099 yards and 18 touchdowns. All three are program records for a tight end. His 180 receptions are third in team history regardless of position. His 9 touchdowns are a single-season program record for a tight end. He broke his own mark of 7, set last year. His 71 catches and 840 yards in 2021 are also the most by an Irish tight end in one season.
Elsewhere, Mayer holds the team record for catches in a game by a tight end, with 11. He did it in a win over BYU on Oct. 8, 2022. He had five career games with at least 100 receiving yards, with a career-high 120 that came in the 2021 season opener at Florida State.
Mayer became a focal point in Notre Dame’s passing attack before his first game. He had 3 catches for 38 yards in the 2020 opener vs. Duke and ended that season with 42 receptions for 450 yards and 2 touchdowns. He tied for the team lead in catches that year.
His early impact was hardly a surprise given his status as a recruit. Mayer, a product of Park Hills (Ky.) Covington Catholic High School, was the No. 34 overall player in the 2020 On3 Consensus and Notre Dame’s highest-rated signee that cycle.
NFL Draft analysts view Mayer as the consensus No. 1 tight end in the 2023 class and a likely first-round selection. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler slotted him as the No. 23 overall pick in his Nov. 30 mock draft. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. ranked him as the No. 8 overall prospect in his 2023 big board, released Nov. 3. Brugler’s most recent prospect rankings, published Nov. 2, had Mayer as the No. 16 prospect.
“With his combination of focus and play strength through contact, Michael Mayer is one of the best contested-catch tight ends in recent memory,” Brugler wrote in his rankings. “As one NFL scouting director put it, ‘This guy is made out of vibranium.’ While Mayer lacks suddenness in his routes, there are no wasted movements. Everything he does looks natural.”
Mayer is the 22nd Notre Dame player to declare for the draft after three seasons since the NFL permitted it in 1990.
