BC Bulletin

Performance Grades for Boston College Football Alumni in NFL Week 1

There were some standout performances by former BC football players in the first week of the 2025 NFL season, including a career-high and a career first. Read to find out more.
Graham Dietz|
Sep 7, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers (4) runs a sweep play in the fourth quarter against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
Sep 7, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers (4) runs a sweep play in the fourth quarter against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

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Boston College Eagles

This past weekend, with one more game to come Monday night, 16 former Boston College football players suited up in pads and a helmet for their respective teams in the National Football League for the NFL’s first week of the 2025 season.

There were some standout performances to take notice of. 

Here is a breakdown of how the BC football program’s alumni did in Week 1 at the highest level of the sport, and an overall grade for their performance.

Zay Flowers (BC from 2018-22) | Baltimore Ravens | Grade: A

Flowers, who set the BC single-season mark in receiving touchdowns (12) as a senior and holds the program’s all-time records in both total receiving yards (3,056) and receptions (200), is now in his third year with Baltimore and is the certified WR1 in John Harbaugh’s air attack, with two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson at quarterback.

The speedy Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native caught four receptions for 44 yards in the first half of the Ravens’ 41-40 loss in Buffalo, but exploded in the second half, amassing a game total of seven receptions for 143 yards—a career high—and a touchdown on nine targets.

At the end of the third quarter, the Ravens scored to go up, 34-19, and the three-play, 68-yard drive all started with a short crosser for Flowers, which he caught in space only a yard above the line of scrimmage. 

Due to the Bills’ front seven looking in the opposite direction because of the play-action concept, which faked a run to Derrick Henry, Flowers was left wide open in the flat. He then bolted up the sideline for 36 yards with no one to stop him until safety Cole Bishop, setting up first down at the Bills’ 32—and eventually, a DeAndre Hopkins touchdown reception.

Harold Landry III (BC from 2014-17) | New England Patriots | Grade: A-

Fifth in career sacks (19.5) in BC history, Landry, who signed with the Patriots this offseason after spending his first six seasons in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans, was one of the few positive takeaways from New England’s first game of the season—a home loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in which the Patriots scored just three points in the second half.

In his New England homecoming, Landry registered 2.5 sacks, five pressures, three run stuffs, and five total tackles, including four solos.

As opposed to using juke-driven footwork techniques and fancy spin moves, Landry takes advantage of his 6-foot-2, 252-pound frame as a wrecking ball of brute force in the pass rush, and he showed how on Sunday.

On 2nd-and-10 from the Raiders’ 36, Landry, lined up against Las Vegas’ right tackle, DJ Glaze, dug his shoulder into the Raiders' pass protection, forcing Glaze’s feet to start cycling backward. By the time Glaze regained his stance, Landry was already making contact with quarterback Geno Smith’s throwing arm roughly eight yards behind where he snapped the ball. With pressure from the backside as well, Smith was shoved to the ground.

Matt Milano (BC from 2013-16) | Buffalo Bills | Grade: B-

A consistent defensive presence in his nine-year professional career—all of which have been in Buffalo—Milano once again showed why he is one of the most dependable run stoppers on the Bills’ roster Sunday night, totaling four tackles, good for fifth on the team, and a sack.

Milano has now eclipsed the 500 career tackles threshold—he surpassed the mark in Buffalo’s AFC Championship loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 26, 2025—and continues to rack up more as a near 10-year NFL veteran despite suffering a bicep injury which forced him out of a handful of games the past two seasons.

Milano only played nine games in 2024 and 2025 combined.

Hunter Long (BC from 2017-20) | Jacksonville Jaguars | Grade: C+

Mostly underutilized throughout his NFL career—which started with the Miami Dolphins in 2021, followed by a stint for the Los Angeles Rams from 2023-24 before signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars in March—the former Second-Team All-American, who led all tight ends nationally in receptions (57) in 2020 at BC, scored his first NFL career touchdown on Sunday.

Lined up to the left of the Jaguars’ offensive line in 12 personnel, Long broke through the second level immediately when the ball was snapped with Trevor Lawrence under center. Following a play-action fake handoff to running back Travis Etienne Jr., Lawrence threw a dot to Long on the run with no linebacker in coverage.

His six-yard touchdown reception was the only target the 6-foot-5, 243-pound Exeter, N.H., native received in Jacksonville’s defeat of the Carolina Panthers, but it might have gotten him some extra reps in practice with the first-team unit this week. Long is currently listed as the third-string tight end for the Jaguars.

Christian Mahogany (BC from 2019-23) | Detroit Lions | Grade: C

Mahogany played in seven games for the Lions as a rookie in 2024, with one start, due to some injuries up front which drove Detroit’s former sixth-round pick in 2024 up the depth chart. But Mahogany was a Week One starter for the Lions, who needed to fill three vacant offensive line positions heading into the 2025 season, against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

Mahogany earned a 43.9 pass-block grade from PFF (Pro Football Focus) for his first performance of the year, but that doesn’t tell the full story.

Mahogany is undersized, which means in pass protection, he can often get beat by defensive lineman with thicker, more versatile frames. In the run game, however, the 6-foot-3, 327-pounder is a force to be reckoned with.

One instance of an impressive rep from Sunday’s game occurred when Mahogay, the left guard, pulled from his stance on a David Montgomery run to the right edge of the line, where linebacker Quay Walker was containing the outside zone.

With one quick pop, Mahogany crunched Walker to the ground with his shoulder, allowing Montgomery to weave through a wide-open gap on the right side of the line while Detroit’s center, right guard, and right tackle were all forcing the Packers’ defensive line to the hashmarks on the left side of the field.

Additional performances in NFL Week 1 by BC football alumni:

DE Zach Allen (Denver Broncos): 1 tackle (solo), 1 sack

RB AJ Dillon (Philadelphia Eagles): 3 carries, 10 rushing yards

DE Donovan Ezeiruaku (Dallas Cowboys): 1 tackle (solo)

S Will Harris (Washington Commanders): 4 tackles (3 solos), 1 forced fumble

LG Zion Johnson (Los Angeles Chargers): 65.4 PFF pass-block grade, 0 sacks, 1 pressure

RG Chris Lindstrom (Atlanta Falcons): 71.0 PFF offensive grade, second on team

LB Isaiah McDuffie (Green Bay Packers): 4 tackles (1 solo)

CB Isaac Yiadom (New Orleans Saints): 4 tackles (2 solos)

Published
Graham Dietz
GRAHAM DIETZ

Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.

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