Inside The Huskies

As NFL Mock Drafts Continue to Drop, Boston Turns Up Everywhere

The Husky wide receiver is building a huge reputation heading into the coming season.
Dan Raley|
Denzel Boston makes a touchdown catch against Michigan.
Denzel Boston makes a touchdown catch against Michigan. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Thirteen spring practices seem to indicate the University of Washington football team will be much improved after its sub-.500 season, with Jedd Fisch's next-up Huskies maybe three or more victories better than the recent 6-7 finish.

Consider that the UW had only one player in linebacker Carson Bruener selected in the recent NFL Draft, going in the seventh and final round to the Pittsburgh Steelers, as the 221st pick overall.

Now balance that out with the findings of the latest mock drafts to emerge -- from Sports Illustrated to SBNation -- that have junior wide receiver Denzel Boston front and center in each one as a first-round choice, even sharing that designation with a teammate.

SI is the latest to drop its 2026 forecast, suggesting Boston will end up with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on the 32nd pick, explaining it this way:

"The reigning champs seem unlikely to bring back Jahan Dotson, and A.J. Brown’s not getting any younger. Boston has fantastic size on the outside [6' 4", 209 pounds] and is primed for a big campaign playing for a head coach who also happens to be GM Howie Roseman’s college roommate."

Pro Football Focus likes Boston going with the 30th pick to the Baltimore Ravens, where this pass-catcher just might line up next to former UW teammate Roger Rosengarten, now that franchise's starting right tackle. The PFF breakdown on the UW receiver goes like this:

"Boston finally got his chance to shine after being buried in Washington’s loaded receiving corps during his first two seasons. His 6-foot-4 frame and fluidity are similar to those of Jayden Higgins, whom the Texans just selected 34th overall in this year’s draft. Baltimore could use a player like Boston in a receiving corps that lacks size."

This rush of post-draft attention showered on Boston began with a group called WalterFootball listing him as the 13th overall pick in 2026 a day after the latest draft was complete.

It's been somewhat ironic that all of this is happening because Boston has been a limited participant in Husky spring football practice, recovering from an offseason surgical procedure. Yet his expanding reputation knows no day off.

"He can be the best in the country," UW receivers coach Kevin Cummings said.

Denzel Boston shows off his focus while catching a touchdown pass with two Northwestern defenders all over him.
Denzel Boston shows off his focus while catching a touchdown pass with two Northwestern defenders all over him. | Skylar Lin Visuals

SBNation did him three turns better in terms of accolades, not only putting the Husky wide receiver at No. 12 overall -- his highest draft position yet -- but it paired him in the first round with a new teammate in cornerback Tacario Davis, the Arizona transfer who was listed at No. 24.

In that listing, Boston also emerges as the top wide receiver taken in the next draft while the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Davis, who received second-team All-Pac-12 and second-team All-Big 12 accolades the past two seasons, would be the second cornerback selected.

Tennessee's Jermod McCoy is the only corner rated higher, by two draft slots, than Davis by SBNation.

With Boston turning up on all of these mock drafts as a first-rounder, and sharing some of the limelight with Davis, compared to Bruener going it alone as a seventh-rounder in real time, would seem to bode well for the Huskies turning out to be a much better football team in the coming season.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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