Marcus Freeman’s WR Wins Second Chance to Impress $5.4B NFL Team After Notre Dame Setback

There’s a reason why the wise owls say that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Being undrafted 4 months after the draft wraps up is enough to have players looking at other avenues. But football, being an extremely unpredictable sport, has doors opening up at the widest possible times. One of Notre Dame‘s own is finally getting that chance, after a quiet and somewhat productive career at South Bend. Will he be able to make the best of this second wind?

Right from day one of the draft, players zero in on their screens to hear their names. Or, they’re waiting for that one coach to make the momentous call. Notre Dame WR Kris Mitchell saw neither panning out during this year’s draft. Having played minimally in his only season at South Bend, he remains an undrafted player even today. But finally, after a long, painstaking wait, Mitchell now has the chance to make his goal of playing in the NFL a reality.

Kris Mitchell has earned a workout session with the Seattle Seahawks, per Howard Balzer on X. The WR comes with a total of 122 catches for 1,887 yards and 14 TDs, across his 5 seasons in college football. He spent 4 of them with FIU, before transferring to Notre Dame in 2024. Mitchell will have to outshine WRs Zakhari Franklin and Joey Hobert by a long shot to clinch those remaining spots on the Seahawks roster. If he manages to get through, he will be joining DL Rylie Mills.

Before the Seahawks offered, Mitchell missed out on an opportunity with the Raiders. He was invited to a rookie minicamp with them in May. But that journey did not materialize. Last year at Notre Dame, Mitchell played in all 16 games, but could only haul in 22 receptions in 224 yards and 2 TDs. At the Irish’s Pro Day, the WR was the fastest in the 40-yard dash, clocking in a perfect 4.5. He told The Draft Network that he spoke with Indianapolis, Chicago, and Detroit reps, even participating in the Colts’ own pro day.

With a road finally laid ahead for Kris Mitchell to accomplish an NFL career, it still calls for a lot of hardship. The Seahawks already have a lot of promising WRs lined up on their depth chart. The most stellar draftee in this room being Jimmy Horn Jr., Kris Mitchell will have impress beyond expectations. Here’s a look at how his Notre Dame career panned out.

Kris Mitchell shines through a bleak Notre Dame WR room

Despite being a National Championship contender in 2024, Notre Dame’s WR room was not an exemplary unit in the season. It was Christian Gray’s ill-judged throw that ultimately took it all away from the Irish. But despite that, Mitchell had a great report card among the Fighting Irish WRs. He was a senior in that room, and had a low yardage. But he was among the only receivers with at least 10 targeted attempts on the board to not have dropped his passes. Mitchell’s best came in the Stanford, Navy, and Georgia Tech games, where he totaled 7 receptions for 56 yards and 2 TDs.

The Notre Dame system was a little different to that of FIU for Mitchell. He delivered his best season in 2023 with the Panthers, registerd a school record for his 1,118 yards. But Notre Dame was a different story. “I knew I wasn’t going to come in and dominate targets. It’s a team-based game. We spread the ball around. If I wasn’t getting the ball, somebody else was. As long as we were winning games and advancing towards our goal of playing for a National Championship, we were all satisfied. I was happy to play my role and help the team win games,” he told The Draft Network.

“I’m all about bringing good energy to the table. I’m extremely confident in my abilities, I’m ready to learn. I have a lot more to give to an NFL team. I’m ready to make my way to the pro level. I’m here to become a better player,” Mitchell said about his NFL pitch. Though it did not get him much farther in the draft and in the months after, he will hope to make the claim once again at the Seattle camp. This is the opportunity every football player dreams about, and boy is Kris Mitchell going to take it.