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.”
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