Carolina Panthers Pick Notre Dame Tight End Mitchell Evans In The 2025 NFL Draft

Former Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans has a new football home as the Carolina Panthers have selected him in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Evans was taken with the No. 163 overall pick in this year's draft.

A high school quarterback, Evans had to transition to tight end, but he did so quickly. The Ohio native earned a backup role as a true freshman and he spent his first two seasons as a blocking tight end while grooming behind former Irish star Michael Mayer.

Evans had his breakout season in 2023. After a slow start in which he caught just five passes in the first four games, Evans broke out with a 7-catch, 75-yard performance against Ohio State. Evans had multiple highlight reel catches in that game. He followed that up with six catches for a career-high 134 yards in a comeback win over Duke. A week later Evans caught four passes for 71 yards, and he had a big gain wiped away because of an offensive line penalty. 

Evans went down with a season-ending knee injury in a 58-7 win over Pittsburgh, but he still finished that game with five catches for 66 yards. 

It was clear early in the 2024 season that Evans was still rounding into form after missing the offseason due to the knee injury. Despite battling back from the injury, Evans still played all 16 games for the Irish and finished with 43 catches for 421 yards in a run-oriented offense. He combined for nine catches for 110 yards in the semifinal and national title games. Evans also caught five passes for 59 yards - including an impressive 23-yard touchdown grab - in Notre Dame's playoff clinching win over USC.

Evans finished his Notre Dame career with 77 catches for 903 yards and 5 touchdowns. He is the 27th tight end in Notre Dame history to be selected in the NFL Draft. The Panthers also drafted former Notre Dame tight end Tommy Tremble in the 2021 NFL Draft.