The saying goes in football circles that speed kills. When you think of speed in the 2025 NFL Draft, one of the first names you think of is Texas Longhorns wide receiver Isaiah Bond.
A dynamic weapon with plenty of untapped potential, Bond figures to be one of the top wide receivers off the board come April.
Isaiah Bond’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 5’11″
- Weight: 180 pounds
- Position: Wide Receiver
- School: Texas
- Current Year: Junior
Bond’s Scouting Report
A four-star recruit out of Buford, Ga., Bond attended Buford High School and starred as a football and track athlete. He won the Georgia Class 5A and 6A state championships in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and had 42 catches for 909 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior. He committed to play college football at Alabama.
As a freshman in 2022, Bond was the fifth wide receiver on Alabama’s depth chart. Though Jermaine Burton and Ja’Corey Brooks saw most of the targets at the position, Bond caught 17 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown. His first career touchdown came in the 2022 Sugar Bowl against Kansas State.
Though most of the Crimson Tide’s receiving corps returned in 2023, Bond earned his way into the starting lineup as a true sophomore. He led the team with 48 catches, finishing the year with 668 yards and four touchdowns.
With Nick Saban retiring as Alabama’s head coach, Bond hit the transfer portal and was one of the top players available in the 2024 offseason. He committed to Texas for his junior year.
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Bond was efficient with his touches, placing third on the Longhorns with 540 receiving yards in 2024 despite being just sixth on the team with 34 receptions. He also ran the ball four times, tallying 98 rushing yards and a touchdown on those carries.
Though his production was rather run-of-the-mill in college, Bond’s speed and ability to get open on tape saw him generate significant NFL buzz. He opted to skip his final year of collegiate eligibility and declare for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Strengths
- Explosive wide receiver who fires off the ball with impressive acceleration and has the deep speed needed to be a serious vertical threat.
- Can win out of the slot as well as generating wins outside.
- Quick-twitched receiver who’s explosive in his movements coming out of his breaks.
- Raw lateral quickness allows him to change direction well as a route runner and create separation.
- Offers plenty of agility after the catch with the ball in his hands and has the creative ball-carrier vision needed to extend the play and determine the right cuts to make in space.
- Sure-handed receiver who had drop rates below 6.0% (per PFF) in each of his last two seasons.
- Does a good job of making catches away from his frame.
- Tracks down the deep ball well and has the body control and spatial awareness needed to know how to get underneath a lob pass.
- Improvises well as a route-runner out of structure, allowing himself to get open and extend the play on broken plays.
- Deep speed always needed to be accounted for, which can draw attention from defenses and present opportunities for his teammates underneath.
- Brings the combination of elite straight-line speed and tremendous lateral quickness that makes him the best kind of athletic receiver.
Weaknesses
- Has never had elite production at the collegiate level and is unproven in a consistent high-volume setting.
- Doesn’t have more than 700 receiving yards in a single season.
- Lacks in the size department, as he has a skinny frame with shorter arms and comes in at sub-6’0″.
- Struggles against press coverage, and while he has a good speed release off the line of scrimmage, smart cornerbacks who land their jabs accurately can redirect his momentum off the snap.
- Competes at the catch point but doesn’t have the pure size and strength to consistently win in tight coverage.
- Can get better at exploiting a defensive back’s blind spots through how he directs his stems.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
His 4.39-second 40-yard dash fell significantly short of the record he publicly announced he would break, but Bond is still an impressive athlete with tremendous speed.
Those who turn on the tape will find themselves impressed with how easily Bond moves in space. His deep speed is top-notch, maximizing it with a quick first few steps off the line of scrimmage.
Some wide receivers who are fast in a straight line can’t change directions all that well. That archetype certainly doesn’t apply to Bond, as he’s a dynamic runner with the ball in his hands who maintains his momentum and speed very well when changing direction.
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Concerns surrounding Bond include his average collegiate production, as he never really put up great numbers at either Alabama or Texas. He’s also a smaller receiver who’s skinny and lacks in the play strength department.
In all, Bond projects best as a second-round talent in the 2025 NFL Draft. He has his physical limitations, which could end up limiting his ceiling a bit in the pros. That said, he should grow into becoming a high-end complementary starting speed receiver.