2020 NFL Draft: Notre Dame's Cole Kmet is lone first-round possibility among tight ends

There 16 tight ends selected in the 2019 NFL Draft and two of them went in Round 1: T.J. Hockenson at No. 8 overall to the Detroit Lions and Noah Fant at No. 20 to the Denver Broncos after the Broncos moved down in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both Hockenson and Fant were from Iowa and both look like they will have good NFL careers, although Hockenson's 2019 campaign was cut a bit short due to injury.

The 2019 tight end class was considered quite good largely because of those two Hawkeyes, but the Class of 2020 is not considered on par. In fact, the only realistic chance there's a first-round pick at the position rests on the shoulders of Notre Dame's Cole Kmet.

At William Hill sportsbook, Kmet is the -225 favorite to be the first tight end drafted, ahead of Dayton's Adam Trautman (+550) – yep Dayton has a football program, just not FBS. The CBS Big Board ranks Kmet as the No. 53 overall player in the class and Trautman at No. 78, so in theory this prop could be easy money (would have to wager $225 to win $100).

The 6-foot-6, 262-pound Kmet declared after his junior season in South Bend. He missed the first two games a year ago due to a broken collarbone but started the next 11 and finished with 43 catches for 515 yards and six touchdowns. The Illinois native's best game by far was his season debut when he had nine catches for 108 yards (both career highs) and a touchdown in the loss to No. 3 Georgia.

No question that Kmet will be drafted and when so he will be the seventh tight end selected out of Notre Dame since 2011 – Kyle Rudolph (2011) and Tyler Eifert (2013) being the two most notable as they would both make at least one Pro Bowl in the NFL.

At the NFL Combine, Kmet ran 4.7 seconds in the 40-yard dash and had a vertical jump of 37 inches. NFL.com gives him a grade of 6.34, which equates to "will be starter within first two seasons." The site also gives him a comp of Tyler Higbee. He was a fourth-round pick in 2016 by the Rams out of Western Kentucky and had his best season in 2019, catching 69 passes for 734 yards and three scores.

There's also a William Hill prop at +125 that Kmet is the first tight end selected and Alabama's Xavier McKinney the first safety off the board, and that looks to be good value.

NFL pick: Yes at +125 on the Kmet/McKinney prop.