Inside The Huskies

Denzel Boston's Pre-Draft Build-Up Is Hardly Lacking

Even Mel Kiper Jr. has the former Husky high on his draft board coming into th combine.
Dan Raley|
Denzel Boston celebrates the win over Illinois.
Denzel Boston celebrates the win over Illinois. | Dave Sizer photo

Denzel Boston is at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this week to show any doubters, and when looking at the mock drafts apparently there still are a few, that he's one of the top receivers available.

Coming in, the former University of Washington pass-catcher is off to a good start.

Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr., the outside expert who counts the most, has Boston positioned as a first-rounder.

Pro Football Focus describes the 6-foot-4, 210-pounder from South Hill, Washington, as having some of the best hands in the draft.

And the Big Ten Huddle considers Boston -- coming off a 62-catch, 881-yard, 11-touchdown season in 2025 -- to be one of 10 conference players to watch for in this lead-up to April's talent dispersal.

As for Kiper's stance, he sees Boston going in the first round to the Buffalo Bills with the 26th overall pick.

His breakdown on the Husky standout's pass-recieiving abilities goes as follows:

"Boston's hands, catch radius and vision would quickly make him a go-to option for quarterback Josh Allen. He finished with 881 yards and 11 scores last season, bullying opposing cornerbacks along the way. Buffalo's receiver room has a lot of questions and lacks a true WR1, all due respect to Khalil Shakir.

"After being called out by ownership last month, Keon Coleman's future with the team is murky. Brandin Cooks and Gabe Davis are free agents. Joshua Palmer was injured and limited to 22 catches on the season. And Tyrell Shavers tore an ACL in the playoffs. So, this one seems obvious."

The thing about Boston, this past season when he came off an injury and even before that while playing with Rome Odunze and other NFL-bound receivers, is he's just different and it readily shows.

He's bigger than everyone else, more of a target, when he goes up for the ball. He's also deceptively fast, remembering him two springs ago going 80 yards with a Michael Penix Jr. pass, catching it on the dead run.

The only glaring question is he physical enough. While he has the height, he'll head to the NFL a little on the slender side, maybe needing to bulk up more along the lines of a DK Metcalf. Or not.

If anything, he can just continue to wow people for his ability to go up in a crowd and successfully fight people for the ball, a trait most welcome in the NFL when dealing with take-no-prisoners cornerbacks.

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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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