Tag: Khristian Boyd

Cardinals one of many teams eyeing Northern Iowa DL Khristian Boyd

“The FCS All-American has a wrench that fits any job, combining size, strength, get-off and tenacity.”

In the last four NFL drafts, there have been only 47 players selected from FCS schools, but one sure-fire prospect this year is Northern Iowa interior defensive lineman Khristian Boyd. The 6-foot-2, 320-pound non-Combine invite has been piling up top-30 visits (as many as 16) and the Cardinals have reportedly been one.

At his school’s pro day, 23 NFL teams were present and watched Boyd bench 225 pounds 38 times. Last season, he played 631 snaps, which is third among draft-eligible interior linemen behind Illinois’ Johnny Newton and Iowa’s Logan Lee.

Eric Galko, the director of operations and player personnel for the East-West Shrine Game, tweeted that Boyd was dominant at both the Shrine and Hula Bowls, but at the Shrine Game, he had “a Kobie Turner-like week of practice.”

Turner was a third-round pick by the Rams (89th overall) in 2023 and came on strong in the second half of the season to finish with 9.0 sacks and was third in voting for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Galko added, “He showed elite burst off the line, hand strength, and finishing ability laterally to penetrate against all types of (and many likely) top picks (in the first four rounds) at guard and center.”

It’s looking like Boyd will be the first non-Combine participant drafted and possibly by the end of the second day.

All-Access Football said after the Shrine Game, “Check Northern Iowa. Check. Check. Check. That was most likely what most scouts in attendance had in their notebooks, as the FCS standout constantly wore out players with Power-5 helmet stickers and checked all the boxes along the way. The FCS All-American has a wrench that fits any job, combining size, strength, get-off and tenacity.”

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Dolphins to host Iowa TE, Northern Iowa DT on pre-draft visits, per report

The Dolphins are bringing in a couple draft prospects from the state of Iowa for a closer look ahead of the 2024 NFL draft.

The Miami Dolphins are scheduled to host Iowa tight end Erick All and Northern Iowa defensive tackle Khristian Boyd on pre-draft visits, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

All spent the first four seasons of his collegiate career with the Michigan Wolverines where he was a team captain before joining Iowa as a graduate transfer. Both his final season with Michigan and his sole year with Iowa ended early due to season-ending back and ACL injuries, respectively.

Tight end hasn’t been much of a featured position in Mike McDaniel’s offense through his first two seasons with the team. Mike Gesicki finished the 2022 season with 362 receiving yards and Durham Smythe ended 2023 with 366 yards. Still, the Dolphins added former Falcons tight end Jonnu Smith in free agency.

Boyd finished his collegiate career at NIU with 10.5 sacks, 22.5 tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles. His 89.0 grade from Pro Football Focus for the 2023 season ranked 10th among all defensive tackles at the FBS and FCS levels.

Miami lost defensive linemen Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis in free agency, and threw several relatively cheap options into the mix by signing former Lions defensive tackle Benito Jones, former Broncos defensive tackle Jonathan Harris, and former Cowboys defensive tackle Neville Gallimore to one-year deals.

In a recent seven-round mock draft published by ESPN, Boyd was projected to the Dolphins in the fifth round and All was picked by the Los Angeles Rams in the sixth.

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Lions draft prospect of the day: Khristian Boyd, DT, Northern Iowa

Boyd propelled himself into draft discussions with a nice senior year and postseason all-star games performance

The Lions Draft Prospect of the Day is a small-school standout who has a private visit set with Detroit before the 2024 NFL draft. 

The focus for these potential Lions prospects is on players who should hold some appeal for Detroit in the draft. Not all will be top-100 players, and today’s prospect might not even be drafted in the first 200 slots in April. 

Khristian Boyd, DT, Northern Iowa

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 320 pounds (measured at Shrine Bowl)

Boyd began at Northern Iowa as a 3-star prospect out of Missouri and redshirted in 2018, his freshman year. He was a role player on the Panthers’ defensive front for the next three seasons before stepping up into a full-time starting role in 2022. In those final two seasons, playing a combination of 1T and 3T.

His game blossomed with a more aggressive approach from a new defensive coordinator in 2023. After bagging just one sack and five total TFLs in 10 games in 2022, Boyd finished with 3.5 sacks, 6.5 TFLs, and more than doubled his QB pressure total (from 18 to 40) in his final year at the FCS-level school. Boyd kept the momentum rolling forward with an excellent Hula Bowl week that followed into a great Shrine Bowl performance.

Boyd turned 24 in February.

What I like

  • Explosive power on the interior
  • Set a school record with 38 bench press reps at UNI pro day
  • Good first step and burst off the snap
  • Fights for every inch of penetration and movement
  • Showed improved hand placement and variety of pass rush moves in ’23
  • Finishes with control and power
  • Good anchor strength against heads-up blocking
  • Showed a dominant confidence and attitude as his career progressed

What worries me going into the NFL

  • Sorely lacks length on the inside with 31″ arm length
  • Doesn’t have much lateral agility or quickness after his first step
  • Wasn’t productive as a pass rusher at the FCS level until very late in his career
  • Struggles to disengage from heads-up blocks and double-teams
  • Doesn’t always seem to have a plan as a pass rusher
  • Poor range and minimal closing burst in run defense

In light of “best and worst games I watched”, I’ll just share the four UNI games where I watched Boyd: Iowa State, North Dakota State, Illinois State, and South Dakota (’22). I also watched all his reps during Shrine Bowl practices.

Overall

Boyd is a compact, powerful interior defensive lineman. He’s got a nice motor and a developing sense of using his hands and shoulders as a pass rusher, though nearly all of his game is based on winning an early power battle and getting leverage off his nice first step. Boyd doesn’t have the length, sheer size, or lower-body drive to be much more than a space occupier against the run, and he’s unlikely to generate a significant pass rush of his own volition against the bigger/quicker/stronger NFL lines.

Despite the hopeful hype coming out of the Shrine Bowl week, where he was indeed very good, the tape grade from the level of competition is of being marginally draftable. Boyd is a candidate for the final Lions draft pick, and anything before that is too high for my tastes. Would make a nice priority UDFA signing.

Seahawks hosting Northern Iowa DT Khristian Boyd for top-30 visit

Seahawks hosting Northern Iowa DT Khristian Boyd for top-30 visit

Once again, the prime objective for the Seattle Seahawks this offseason is to fix their atrocious run defense. Efforts last year proved to be in vain, but re-signing Leonard Williams was a good first step to addressing the issue.

But it is a first step. More must be done, and must be done so during the 2024 NFL draft. Seattle is clearly aware of this, and are hosting defensive tackle Khristian Boyd from Northern Iowa for an official top-30 visit.

Per Tony Pauline, Boyd already has 15 out of 30 visits scheduled. He has had to turn down a few teams due to the travel schedule, but fortunately for Seattle, the Seahawks were not one of cancelled ones.

Boyd started catching everyone’s eye at the East-West Shrine Bowl as an impressive prospect.

In his career at Northern Iowa, Boyd had 70 total tackles, 3.5 sacks, three pass defenses, and two forced fumbles.

More Seahawks Wire stories 

2024 NFL mock draft: Seahawks go BPA in 3-round projections

Seahawks met with Michigan QB JJ McCarthy again 

Seahawks GM on Sam Howell: “I love the way he plays the game”

Cardinals have top-30 visit with Northern Iowa DL Khristian Boyd

Boyd has at least 11 top-30 visits scheduled.

NFL teams are busy getting ready for the 2024 NFL draft with pro days and with player visits. Teams are allowed to fly in up to 30 prospects, meet with them and examine them.

The Arizona Cardinals are one of 11 teams scheduled for a top-30 visit with Northern Iowa defensive lineman Khristian Boyd, according to The Draft Network’s Ryan Fowler.

Boyd did not get invited to the NFL combine.

He is 6-foot-2 and 320 pounds. He performed well at the East-West Shrine Bowl.

Per his draft profile on NFLdraftbuzz.com:

In 2023 as a fifth year senior Boyd logged playing time in 11 games and logged a total of 631 snaps for the Panthers. He also added 29 tackles, 12 assists, and 24 stops. As a pass rusher, he tallied 30 total pressures, which included 18 QB hurries, 9 QB hits, and 3 sacks on the season.

The Cardinals have made a concerted effort to rebuild the defensive line. Boyd could be a guy they would like to add on Day 3 of the draft, as they have five selections in Rounds 4-7.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

2024 NFL draft: Colts hosting DT Khristian Boyd for top-30 visit

The Colts will host Khristian Boyd for a top-30 visit.

The Indianapolis Colts will be hosting Northern Iowa defensive tackle Khristian Boyd for a top-30 visit ahead of the 2024 NFL draft.

Though the Colts re-signed Grover Stewart to a three-year extension and added Raekown Davis in free agency on a two-year deal, they seem compelled to continue looking at depth options at the one-technique.

Our own Cody Manning highlighted Boyd as a potential target for the Colts earlier in the offseason. Here’s what he said about Boyd:

Current Draft Projection: Day 2-3

Khristian Boyd turned some heads in the All-Star season after getting called up from the Hulu Bowl to the East-West Shrine Bowl. He measured at 6-foot-2 and 320 pounds at the Shrine Bowl. In his final year at Northern Iowa, he registered 43 tackles (17 solo), six-and-a-half TFLs, and three-and-a-half sacks. Boyd is a powerful athlete whose explosiveness helps create leverage in run defense and setting up his pass-rush moves.

The Colts have all of their selections on Day 3 of the draft so Boyd may be a prospect to keep an eye on if Chris Ballard feels even more compelled to take Boyd after the team meets with him.

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Packers hosting top 30 pre-draft visit with Northern Iowa DL Khristian Boyd

The Green Bay Packers are hosting an official top 30 visit with Northern Iowa defensive lineman Khristian Boyd ahead of the 2024 NFL draft.

The Green Bay Packers are hosting an official top 30 visit with Northern Iowa defensive lineman Khristian Boyd ahead of the 2024 NFL draft. Boyd posted a photo inside Lambeau Field on his official Instagram account on Thursday.

Boyd was an FCS All-American in 2023 and a two-time All-MVFC selection. Across 49 games, Boyd produced 10.5 sacks, 22.5 tackles for loss, five batted passes and two forced fumbles. He participated at both the Hula Bowl and Shrine Bowl but was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.

Boyd measured 6-2 and 329 pounds at UNI’s pro day earlier this week. He completed 38 reps on the bench press, a school record for a pro day. His wingspan is 77 1/8″. An injury prevented Boyd from doing the other athletic testing.

According to PFF, Boyd registered 40 pressures across 365 pass-rushing snaps in 2023. He graded out as an elite pass-rusher during each of the last two seasons while aligning over both the A and B gaps.

With ideal size and interior pass-rush potential, Boyd is seen as a late Day 2 or early Day 3 selection.

Boyd is also scheduled to do pre-draft visits with the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions inside the NFC North.

Lions hold pre-draft visit with Northern Iowa DT Khristian Boyd

Boyd starred during Shrine Bowl week but was a Scouting Combine snub

The Lions are getting a jump on the pre-draft visit process this week. The NFL Scouting Combine just ended and the Lions have already hosted the first of their 30 official pre-draft visits.

Northern Iowa defensive tackle Khristian Boyd is making the trip to Allen Park to have his official visit with the team. Boyd is making several visits as he hopes to become the highest-drafted player not invited to the combine in 2024.

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Boyd is a 6-foot-2, 317-pound interior lineman who played both 1-tech and 3-tech for the Panthers, an FCS-level power. He was a five-year contributor for Northern Iowa after a redshirt year in 2018, recording 42 tackles and 3.5 sacks as a senior.

His draft stock took off during Shrine Bowl week, where Boyd was dominant in 1-on-1 drills and disruptive in team drills, too. He fits the interior line anchor role the Lions are looking to fill next to Alim McNeill.

Saints schedule one of their first draft visits with Trevor Penning’s old teammate

The Saints scheduled one of their first pre-draft visits with Trevor Penning’s old teammate: Northern Iowa defensive tackle Khristian Boyd.

The New Orleans Saints have one of their first top-30 prospect visits lined up, as they will meet with Northern Iowa defensive tackle Khristian Boyd, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

Boyd, a former college teammate of Saints offensive lineman Trevor Penning, didn’t get invited to the NFL combine last week but did have a nice showing at the East-West Shrine Bowl (where he weighed in at 6-foot-2 and 320 pounds) to start his pre-draft process. His scouting report carries many of the same talking-points as Penning did after during the process, such as bringing a lot of energy and aggression off the snap.

The interior lineman looks like someone that could be a powerful run defender in the NFL, but he’s disruptive with 10.5 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss, plus 89 quarterback pressures in his college career per Pro Football Focus charting. If the Saints like what they get out of him in this interview and private workout, expect him to be either a late-round pick or priority undrafted free agent target.

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Vikings 2024 NFL draft scouting report: Northern Iowa DT Khristian Boyd

Northern Iowa DT Khristian Boyd made some waves at the Shrine Bowl. What does the FCS product’s NFL Draft stock look like?

Welcome to SKOL Search!

This series will be your guide to the 2024 draft class. From scouting reports to mock drafts and exploring different scenarios, we will be covering the NFL draft and the future of the Minnesota Vikings from all angles.

The focus of the draft class in this space will be on the Vikings’ major needs at quarterback, running back, defensive line and edge rusher. We will also focus on wide receiver since it’s a loaded class and an increased chance to get a Stefon Diggs-type steal in the later rounds.

The Vikings are slated to have 9 picks going into the NFL draft and they need to make the most out of them.