Boston Not First Husky To Deal With NFL Draft Snub

Two other former UW players ended up falling to pick No. 33 to begin the second round.

Denzel Boston completes a 78-yard touchdown pass in the LA Bowl. | Dave Sizer photo

Denzel Boston forever will be left with the knowledge that a lot of people were convinced he was an NFL first-round draft pick, including himself no doubt, and it just didn't happen.

Once the selection process began on Thursday night, the pro football moons aligned differently than others imagined and the former University of Washington wide receiver was passed over when the first 32 names were called out.

The Cleveland Browns, supposedly the strongest possibility for Boston, went in a different direction for a wide receiver.

The San Francisco 49ers and the Buffalo Bills, other alternative landing spots mentioned for him along the way, traded their way out of the first round.

Five pass-catchers were drafted in the opening round and the 6-foot-4, 212-pound Northwest native just wasn't one of them.

Boston, according to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, was one of if not the best player available heading into Friday's second round that resumes in Pittsburgh at 4 p.m. PT.

Best available players heading into Friday’s rounds 2 and 3:

🏈WR Denzel Boston
🏈Edge Zion Young
🏈LB CJ Allen
🏈CB Jermod McCoy
🏈CB Avieon Terrell
🏈S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren
🏈CB Colton Hood
🏈DT Kayden McDonald
🏈Edge Cashius Howell
🏈Edge TJ Parker
🏈G Emmanuel Pregnon
🏈LB…

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 24, 2026

By falling out of the first round and should he go immediately in the second, Boston probably lost more than $3 million. The drop in value from pick No. 32 ($16,168,614) to pick No. 33 ($12,937,488) is around $3.23 million over the duration of a four-year rookie deal, according to Spotrac.

Unfortunately, this first-round near-miss has happened before for former UW players and in recent times.

In 2019, cornerback Byron Murphy, now playing for the Minnesota Vikings, was poised to be a first-rounder for the UW only to slide into the second round and become the next pick, at No. 33, for the Arizona Cardinals.

Two years before that, one-time Huskies in cornerback Kevin King and safety Budda Baker had it happen to them in getting bypassed as first-rounders.

King, out of pro football for a year now, ended up in 2017 as pick No. 33 to open the second round for the Green Bay Packers while Baker went at No. 36, four players out of the first round, for the Cardinals, where he remains a decade later.

Budda Baker slid out of the NFL Draft first round in 2017 to the second. | Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In 1998, former UW wide receiver Jerome Pathon was poised to be one of the then 30 first-rounders and dropped two spots into the second round, going at No 32 to the Indianapolis Colts.

In 1980, cornerback Mark Lee ended up as the No. 34 overall pick for the Green Bay Packers when the draft had just 28 first-round selections, just missing out on the bigger payday.

Running back Corey Dillon and safety Lawyer Milloy, two of the UW's more accomplished pro football players, ended up as second-round picks for the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots, respectively.

Corey Dillon was as second-round NFL draft pick in 1997. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Dillon, an 11,000-yard rusher and a possible Hall of Fame inductee some day, was drafted in 1997 at No. 43 when there were just 30 first-round slots.

Milloy, who became a 15-year NFL vet and four-time Pro Bowler, was drafted at No. 36 in 1996, again when the first round went 30 picks.

As these others from the UW have demonstrated, there's no shame in becoming a second-round pick.

You still become a millionaire. Earn an NFL roster spot. Have a chance at a long and a lucrative career.

You just wince a little whenever mention of that first round near-miss is brought up later in your football lifetime.