NFL Draft Profile: Denzel Boston

Denzel Boston had to bide his time at the University of Washington before getting a chance to show what he could do. The 6'4", 210 pound wide receiver had just seven catches over his first two seasons with the Huskies.

There was a good reason for the lack of catches. Boston was behind three players who would go on to the NFL. Rome Odunze(1st round), Ja'Lynn Polk(2nd round) and Jalen McMillan(3rd round) were all selected in the 2024 draft. That opened the door for Boston.

The native of South Hill, Washington had a breakout season in 2024. He started every game and led the team with 834 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He was named Honorable Mention All Big 10.

In 2025, Boston was Third Team All Big 10 after leading the Huskies in catches(62), yards(881) and TD's(11). The touchdown total was the sixth best for a single season in program history. He recorded a 68% contested catch rate and had just two drops in 100 total targets.

Boston. who also handled punt returns, was Honorable Mention All Big 10 as a return specialist. Pro Football Focus gave him a run blocking grade of 84.2, third best among all collegiate wide receivers.

Boston majored in Comparative History of Ideas and earned Academic All Big 10 honors twice.

Joe Marino provides draft analysis for WGR. His website is thejoemarino.com and you can subscribe to his Locked On Bills Podcast. Joe shares his thoughts on Boston.

Positves:

Big receiver that plays big. He is the guy that could extend his catch radius. He is physical in everything he does. He blocks. He's got big time hands, elite hands, elite ball skills, and excellent body control. His ability to track in time and put himself in good leverage advantages to win the ball, he's outstanding at it. As a route runner, I think he's efficient. He's fluid, he's smooth, even if he's not overly sudden and snappy through his breaks. The physical profile, as a route runner with the ball in his hands, at the catch point, it all shows up. If you're going to be six-four, 212, play like you're six-four, 212, and he does that.

Negatives:

I think he offers a lot of surface to corners in his release. You'll see corners that are willing to crowd him at the line of scrimmage and and really work to get jams on him, and I don't think they're super concerned with his ability to get behind them. So there was a lot of aggressive press coverage that he faced and in college, it was just being physical, right? I think that was his his plan to beat press coverage. You're going to need more technique when you're pressed in an NFL.

Then you watch him play and there's a lot of motion. He'll motion into his release, which is kind of an indicator to me that they were aware of that concern and they wanted to make it easier for him to get off the line and into his routes. I think the second gear and the pull away speed is missing from Denzel Boston, and overall, he's just not a dynamic separator. He's not going to create a ton of space for himself. Now he's got redeeming qualities to help make up for that. But if you want a guy that creates his own space, I don't think you're going to find that in Denzel Boston.

The NFL Draft will be held April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.