Two former Notre Dame players join New York Giants rookie minicamp
Six former Notre Dame players found homes — at least temporarily — via undrafted free agency in the immediate aftermath of the NFL Draft. Two others are getting a shot on Friday at New York Giants rookie minicamp.
Offensive lineman Cain Madden and kicker Jonathan Doerer are on-site in New Jersey. Giants reporters Jordan Raanan of The Athletic and Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News shared the updates on Twitter.
Madden spent just one year at Notre Dame after an undergraduate career at Marshall. In five years with the Thundering Herd, the 6-2 1/2, 310-pound Ohio native played in 49 games and started 31 of them. He was a 2020 All-American and first-team All-Conference USA that year.
His time in South Bend as a graduate transfer did not quite pan out as well as he would have liked. He played 902 snaps for the Irish according to PFF and earned a final offensive grade of 78.3. Madden struggled in pass protection, earning a grade of 61. That ranked 10th of the 12 offensive linemen Notre Dame played last year. In total, Madden gave up a sack, six quarterback hurries and 13 pressures.
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The Giants offensive line has been a weakness in recent years as they try to make things work with quarterback Daniel Jones under center. The Giants were ranked the No. 30 offensive line in the league by PFF at the conclusion of the 2021 season.
“Things weren’t just bad on the offensive line for the Giants (left tackle Andrew Thomas had more receiving touchdowns than Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney — their big-money free agent and first-round rookie — combined), but it certainly started there,” PFF’s Sam Monson said.
“Thomas was the best-graded player on the line, and when he missed time, things were near disastrous. He allowed 19 pressures across 517 pass-blocking snaps. His development in Year 2 was a massive positive, but he might be the only member of the line who has a clear future going forward.”
Improvements are being made as the Giants have added tackle talent via the draft in the form of Alabama’s Evan Neal, but there is a long way to go. Whether or not Madden can contribute to the operation as a reserve guard remains to be determined.
Doerer spent five years with Notre Dame and ended with a 75.4 percent field goal success rate over his career, second in school history. He was responsible for a total of 49 career field goals, fourth in program history, and 309 total points, third in school history. In 2021, the North Carolina native was 16-21 when kicking field goals and made 98.1 percent of his extra point attempts.
He was named the Lou Groza Star of the Week after the Irish topped Florida State opening weekend of the 2021 season. He went 2-2 on field goals and made all five of his extra point attempts. Doerer made the game-winning 41-yard boot in overtime to win the game.
As far as the Giants current kicking situation looks, veteran Graham Gano is the starter. It would be incredibly difficult for Doerer to get into a competition with the 12-year specialist, but his presence at the minicamp might be enough to get some attention from other programs across the country.
