Minnesota Vikings sign Notre Dame DE Jordan Botelho as undrafted free agent

Defensive end Jordan Botelho will finally get a chance to launch his NFL career after six seasons with Notre Dame football. The Minnesota Vikings announced Botelho as one of its undrafted free agent signings Saturday evening following the completion of the NFL Draft.

Botelho took the field in 62 games during a career that started in 2020. The first 47 of those games came in his first four seasons at Notre Dame, but he was able to return to the Irish for a fifth season due to a COVID eligibility exemption that was applied to the 2020 season.

Botelho’s fifth season was cut short in the third game against Purdue with a torn patellar tendon in his right knee. Botelho then opted to return to Notre Dame for a sixth season in 2025.

The peak of Botelho’s production at Notre Dame came in his senior season when he tallied 32 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and four sacks in 13 games in 2023. A promising start to the 2024 season — 12 tackles and one sack — was derailed by his knee injury. When he returned for his final college season in 2025, he was relegated to a reserve role primarily behind redshirt sophomore Boubacar Traore, who led the Irish with 7.5 sacks.

Botelho finished his Notre Dame career with 97 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks, one blocked punt and one touchdown return on a blocked punt. PFF credits Botelho with playing 1,086 defensive snaps and 367 special teams snaps for the Irish.

Notre Dame signed Botelho as a four-star recruit out of Honolulu St. Louis. The Rivals Industry Ranking slated him as the No. 9 edge defender and No. 129 overall in the 2020 class.

The 6-foot-2, 247-pound Botelho completed every testing aspect of Notre Dame’s Pro Day. He benched pressed 225 pounds 21 times, jumped 36.5 inches vertically and 9-feet, 10 inches broadly, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.84 seconds and completed the 20-yard shuttle and 3-cone drill in 4.24 and 7.10 seconds, respectively.