The Boston clan knows football well. Denzel Boston is the youngest of four boys raised by parents who were Boise State alums. His dad was a football coach, and the family moved south of Seattle when Denzel was young. His brother Andrew played at Eastern Washington and ultimately signed with the CFL’s Hamilton franchise. Go Tiger-Cats! Denzel dabbled in baseball and basketball before settling into football in high school. COVID shortened his junior year, but he finished his final year with close to 550 receiving yards and eight TDs. Boston finished his high school athletic career as a sprinter and triple jumper on the track team.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of our Rookie Profile series going on until the 2026 NFL Draft. For more on each rookie, check out Andy, Mike, and Jason’s exclusive rookie rankings and production profiles found only in the Dynasty Pass, part of the UDK+ for 2026.
Measurables
Boston measured in just below 6’4” and is one of the tallest WRs in this class. This, paired with a solid wingspan and weight, puts him in a nice category of WRs who can battle for the ball. This physicality, plus his explosivity, is his calling card heading into the NFL draft – he is one of the tallest and biggest WRs in this class.
| Height | Weight | Hands | Arms | Wing | 40-Yd | 10 Split | Vertical | Shuttle |
| 6’4″ | 213 lbs | 9.75″ | 32″ | 77.38 inches | NA | NA | 35″ | 4.28 |
You will notice that Boston did not run the 40 at the Combine. No worries, many athletes choose to run it on their pro day and take advantage of a little home-field advantage. But Boston chose not to run it there either. By skipping it, he avoided posting a potentially disappointing time that could impact his draft stock. His agent advised him on this, and kudos there. Boston chose to highlight his explosiveness instead, improving his vertical jump score from the Combine. He hit 37.5” at his pro day, 2.5” more than at Indy.
College Production Profile
Boston was a three-star recruit who entertained multiple offers coming out of high school – ASU, Nevada, Eastern Washington, and more – but ultimately decided on the Huskies. He played very little his first two years (‘22 and ‘23); remember that the Washington 2023 squad played in the National Championship game with future NFL players Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk, and Jalen McMillan. Boston had to be patient.
What ultimately surfaced was a fantastic boundary possession X-receiver that helped lead Washington’s offense for two seasons. He was the primary TD scorer for the school during his final two years, with nine in 2024 and 11 in 2025. He also had the second-most receiving yards on the team in 2024, just behind Giles Jackson, and the most in 2025 (881).
| Season | Team | Tgt | Rec | Rec % | Yds | Y/Rec | TD | YAC | Y/RR | ADOT | CTT | CTC |
| 2025 | Washington | 95 | 62 | 65.3 | 881 | 14.2 | 11 | 305 | 2.44 | 14.4 | 13 | 10 |
| 2024 | Washington | 98 | 63 | 64.3 | 834 | 13.2 | 9 | 333 | 1.86 | 11.4 | 22 | 12 |
| 2023 | Washington | 7 | 5 | 71.4 | 51 | 10.2 | 0 | 10 | .89 | 6.1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | Washington | 4 | 2 | 50. | 15 | 7.5 | 0 | 9 | 1.07 | 13.8 | 0 | 0 |
What’s On Tape
Games Watched: Washington St. (’25), Illinois (’25), Ohio St. (’25), Michigan (’24)
1. Knows how to win at the catch point
Boston’s ability to pluck the ball out of the air and make the catch is where he truly excels. He was the recipient of many over-the-shoulder catches in college, where his timing and strong hands were on display. He has the ability to come down with balls that are not the cleanest throws and had a 76.9% contested catch percentage in his final year at Washington. Boston’s large catch radius to go along with his height makes him an extremely dependable receiver, ala the style of Tetairoa McMillan or even Drake London. His body control is stellar, and with only five total drops in his entire college career (4.5% rate in 2024 and 3.1% in 2025), he is as trustworthy a target as they come. This means he is quite the…
115 seconds of fun Denzel Boston catches pic.twitter.com/i2RPysW8Uu
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) March 19, 2026
2. TD Threat
When Washington needed a score through the air in the past two seasons, they went to Boston. In 2024, Boston had nine of Washington’s receiving TDs, and in 2025, he had 11 of the team’s 26 receiving TDs (with only one other player having more than two). And why wouldn’t you go to Boston with his ability to bully the defenders? He is excellent at tracking the ball and will be quite a red zone threat in the NFL. Friend of the show Matt Harmon has referred to Boston as “Diet Coke Mike Evans,” and I don’t hate that comp one bit. NFL teams will love the red zone mismatch Boston brings to the table.
Washington WR Denzel Boston. High end size + play strength, catch radius, body control. Instant red zone weapon (11 TDs in ‘25) pic.twitter.com/LyHjG1C1di
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) February 17, 2026
3. Versatile
Boston is successful at all levels of the field. He has over a 90 rating on PFF at each level of the field, deep, medium, short, and behind LOS, as well as multiple TDs from short, medium, and deep distances. During his early time at the University of Washington, Boston also showed off on special teams. His true talent is as a WR, but we know that getting onto the field via special teams is a big deal in the NFL.
78 yards to the house
Denzel Boston returns the punt and scores for @UW_Football
: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/ukRCK90xbg
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 7, 2025
During his final year as a Husky, he had eight returns for 104 yards and a TD. Our own Kyle Borgononi was especially blown away by the fact that a 6’4″ WR was on the field returning kicks. Kyle discovered that if Boston is drafted in Round 1 or Round 2 (and we foresee this), he would be the only WR that was 6’3″ or taller drafted that early, with over 25 kick returns in college since 2010. I will take incredibly random but useful trivia for $800, please.
And may I offer you a trick play in these trying times? In a game against Illinois, Boston threw a 12-yard TD pass to Jonah Coleman. Football is fun!
Denzel Boston can throw too pic.twitter.com/Nk4M95cRUk
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) October 25, 2025
What’s Not on Tape:
1. Quick, Not Fast
Boston is not a burner. Without even looking at the tape, you can deduce this simply by his electing not to run the 40 at the Combine or at his pro day. However, the explosivity that he shows is where he gains his power and helps him win vertically. Boston’s ability to accelerate quickly helps him get open early, and his physicality and solid hands help to seal the deal and help him come down with the ball.
2. YAC
You would think that a receiver that is so handsy and physical would be a massive threat after the catch, but for some reason, Boston is not. In 2024, he had 333 yards after the catch (19th in the class), but it dipped to 305 in 2025 (39th in the class). You rarely see Boston break tackles and go for extra yardage, and it is concerning how often he goes down on first contact. Part of this issue might be subpar QB play. Demond Williams, the Huskies QB in 2025, was not overly accurate, with only 68% of Boston’s targets catchable (per PFF). That clearly could have put Boston in situations where the defense was already keyed in on the play and limiting his options after the catch.
3. Late Breakout Age
Even though Boston has one of the highest dominator ratings of his class (41% of the teams receiving yards and receiving TDs per game), the age at which this started to happen should be noted. Boston didn’t break out until 20.8, and is an older prospect, currently 22 years old. It is important to remember who he was competing with at Washington during his first two years, making it almost impossible to find his way on the field. It might be nothing, but it is a data point that must be noticed.
Fantasy Outlook
According to NFLMockdraftdatabase, Boston is currently mocked at the end of the first round, which would be a prime place to go for potential fantasy production. That means we are potentially seeing Boston head to a better team with a better QB, with several mocks having him go to Kansas City at 29 or the Patriots at 31. One landing spot I would not love immediately would be Boston going to Cleveland. Cleveland has had top-30 visits with eight WRs as of this writing (one being Boston), and it seems relatively certain that they will be taking a WR early in this draft. I know Boston’s talent would push to shine through, but with that carousel of QBs, it would put a damper on his upside, at least in the first year.
Boston would be a fantastic fit in Baltimore. Zay Flowers is a talented WR (5’9″, 182), but seeing how the team continually gets stuck trying to win in the playoffs, they need a bigger-bodied WR who can be physical and win at the catch point—precisely Boston’s M.O. The two would be a great combo. Pick-wise, for Baltimore to go with Boston, they may need to move around a bit; they have the 14th pick in the draft, and that is a bit high for Boston, who we frequently see go at the back of the first round. The Ravens also have pick 45, so if they want Boston, I think they could move around some draft capital to go after him. GrindingTheMocks gives Boston an expected draft position of 27 – the sixth WR off the board.
When it comes to Dynasty Rookie Drafts, potential first-round draft capital plus solid college production should make you feel comfortable drafting Boston in the first round of your rookie drafts. Depending on your flavor, you could put Boston anywhere from WR4 to WR7 on your board.
from Fantasy Footballers Podcast https://ift.tt/qIlLtVu
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