NFL Draft 2019: Mel Kiper Says Notre Dame’s Miles Boykin “Has a Chance” to be a Round 2 Pick

Mel Kiper Jr. has named former Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver Miles Boykin as a player who helped his NFL Draft stock the most by impressing at the recently completed combine.

“I watched a lot of Boykin at Notre Dame, but he really had only one season of high-end production, and we didn’t have true testing numbers,” wrote Kiper, ESPN’s senior draft analyst. “I thought he might be a third- or fourth-round pick coming into Indianapolis. After measuring 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Boykin ran a 4.42 40 and had a 43.5-inch vertical and an 11-foot-8 broad jump. Those are tremendous numbers. You could make the case that no one prospect rose higher than Boykin here, as he now has a chance to go near the top of Round 2.”

The first player picked in the second round of the NFL Draft will make almost $8 million from his first contract, including a $3.8 million signing bonus, according to OverTheCap.com. The contract for the 16th player in that round — or halfway through — is more than $6 million.

That would be quite the ascension for the Tinley Park, Ill. prospect, who Scouts Inc. ranked as the 166th best player before the Combine. The 166th pick in this year’s NFL Draft will make about $2.8 million on his first contract. If both Kiper and Scouts Inc. are right — and that’s a tremendous stretch — Boykin’s Combine performance could have netted him between $3.3 million and $5.2 million over the four-year contract.

Not bad for a day’s work!

Kiper’s other biggest risers coming out of the Combine were Alabama Crimson Tide’s DT Quinnen Williams, Michigan Wolverines’ ILB Devin Bush, Texas A&M Aggies’ C Erik McCoy and Massachusetts Minutemen’s WR Andy Isabella.

Todd McShay, ESPN’s other top draft analyst, chose the Mississippi St. Bulldogs’ DE Montez Sweat, Iowa Hawkeyes’ TE Noah Fant, Ole Miss Rebels’ WR D.K. Metcalf, Ohio State Buckeyes’ WR Parris Campbell and Ole Miss’ S Zedrick Woods.