STRENGTHS - Instinctive and quick footed, Boyd gets moving quickly at the snap of the ball. That quickness off the ball combines with his quick hands and long arms (They appear longer than measured size on film) enable him to consistently get his hands on the OL first and is usually able to maintain separation from them because of it. His quickness off the ball helps him get into gaps quickly and his strength often allows him to drive through contact to get backfield penetration. By maintaining separation from blocker he can use his athleticism to go around blocker in either direction to make a tackle against the run. Showing a feel for the play, Body consistently is able to identify and get started towards the ball carrier fast and he has deceptive playing speed to chase down plays in pursuit within the TE box.
WEAKNESSES - Despite good natural strength and flashing the baility to play strong at the POA, too often Boyd gets upright and plays without leverage. When he does this he is non-effective rushing the passer and can be tied up and sealed to the side of the play by run blocks. While he can be very good using his hands to maintain separation from OL, if they gets their hands on him first, he usually struggles to free and get involved in the play. Although he has a quick first step at the snap, he does not have the explosiveness and top end athleticism to be a true 1-Gap DT. This lack of explosiveness hinders his ability to consistently finish plays behind the LOS when he get good initial backfield penetration. His effort rushing the pass is always excellent, but he lacks a variety of pass rush moves and relies on his ability to get hands on pass blocker first to stay free too much and often is non-effective getting pressure on QB.
SUMMARY - Boyd was a consistently productive player throughout the week of practice at the East West Shrine Game and displayed many of the quality traits that I had seen on film, which is always great reinforcement. Odd to day, but Boyd's height/weight measurements actually seem small when you see him 'on the hoof" as he looks like a taller, more thickly built defender. I like Boyd's consistent ability to get moving quickly at the snap and combined with his hand use he could develop into a quality 2-Gap DL if he can do a better job of maintaining leverage throughout the play. While he did not show the skills to be an effective 1-Gap DT in the my eyes, I believe he is a versatile player with the potential to start as a 2-Gap DT in a 43 scheme or as a DE in a 34 scheme. Overall, I think Boyd is not a premier prospect because he lacks top physical traits, but for a middle round (4th or 5th) pick he makes sense. He reminDs me of many good college defensive tackles who were not elite players in college, but end up very good backups in the NFL who do an excellent job when needed to spot start.