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NFL Draft 2013: Scouts Raving About Notre Dame’s Tyler Eifert

By Josh Sanchez

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The 2013 NFL Draft class features a number of top notch tight end prospects, but Notre Dame’s Tyler Eifert continues to draw rave reviews from NFL scouts as they finish evaluating his game film.

To see the threat that Eifert presents, all you need to do is put on the national championship game when Notre Dame matched up against Alabama. Eifert demanded so much attention from the Crimson Tide defense that the team’s top cornerback Dee Milliner was given the assignment of shutting down the Fighting Irish star tight end.

Jan 7, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish tight end Tyler Eifert (80) catches a pass defended by Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Dee Milliner (28) during the first half of the 2013 BCS Championship game at Sun Life Stadium. Elfert was ruled out of bounds on the play. Mandatory Credit: Eileen Blass-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 7, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish tight end Tyler Eifert (80) catches a pass defended by Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Dee Milliner (28) during the first half of the 2013 BCS Championship game at Sun Life Stadium. Elfert was ruled out of bounds on the play. Mandatory Credit: Eileen Blass-USA TODAY Sports /

“Alabama knew he was the guy they had to take away, so they put their top cover guy on him,”  one top college scout said, per the Times of Trenton referring to the decision to place Milliner on Eifert.

At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Eifert stole the show and began to pull away from Stanford’s Zach Ertz as the top tight end in the draft. Eifert has received so much praise that he is starting to be considered as the best all-round receiver in this year’s draft, not just the best tight end.

“Keenan Allen (of California) is up there,” a NFL personnel man said. “But I’ll put Eifert up there with any of them. This kid is good, real good.

“(Detroit’s Brandon) Pettigrew was pretty good coming out (of Oklahoma in 2009), but this kid is better all-around then he was. This guy is the real deal. He can run. He can catch. He runs good routes. He’s not a great blocker, but he’s getting better at it, and he’ll get even better yet.”

Last season, Eifert racked up 50 receptions, 685 yards and four touchdowns, which was a step back from his previous year’s production of  63 passes, 865 yards and five touchdowns.

“He’ll probably go somewhere in the middle of the first round, somewhere in the teens,” another scout said. “And somebody is going to get a real good player there.”

There are a number of teams in the middle to late first-round that have needs at the tight end position, so the belief that Eifert could go in the teens is not out of the question.

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