Texas and Alabama have both produced their fair share of NFL wide receivers; in the 2025 NFL Draft, Isaiah Bond will bridge the gap between them with his scouting report. What does Bond have to offer, and how high can he rise in the 2025 NFL Draft process?
Isaiah Bond’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 5’11”
- Weight: 185 pounds
- Position: Wide Receiver
- School: Texas
- Current Year: Junior
Bond owns his last name without hesitation. His handle is “isaiah “007” bond” on X (formerly Twitter). His new number with the Texas Longhorns is No. 7, in honor of the famed secret agent icon. But it doesn’t take any covert operations to know that this latest Bond is the real deal.
Bond originally committed to Alabama out of Buford High School in Georgia. He wasn’t overly productive as a high school player, but Alabama’s coaching staff saw the vision, and as a true freshman, Bond got his toes wet as a rotational WR and special teams player.
In 2022, Bond caught 17 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown, and he also returned a punt for 34 yards. In 2023, he upped his game, racking up 48 receptions for 668 yards and four scores — including a legendary game-winning TD catch against Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
Following Nick Saban’s retirement, Bond transferred to Texas. There, he’ll aim to help fill the void left by the departures of Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell, and he’ll be catching passes from fellow 2025 NFL Draft prospect Quinn Ewers.
In Steve Sarkisian’s offense, fireworks could be on the way.
Bond’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Easy accelerator with the long-strider speed to flip the field on the vertical plane.
- Possesses the twitch, hip fluidity, and short-area burst to slither through crowds.
- Smooth separator who can stack violent movements and curvilinear acceleration.
- Has extraordinary hip sink and acute angle freedom when cutting on route breaks.
- Shows off an understanding of pacing and throttle control, using burst to attack space.
- Combined speed and fluidity enable him to gash through zone-coverage looks.
- Flashes high-end body control and hand-eye coordination in contested situations.
- Effectively tracks the ball over his shoulder and flows to it with his gliding speed.
- Can pluck the ball out of the air with diamond technique and secure it quickly.
- Has the awareness to sit in zones and make himself available on second-window throws.
- Has shown he can maintain possession of passes through multiple levels of contact.
- Plays with size-defying physicality and confidence, both as a separator and RAC threat.
- Forces defenders to play up at the catch point with his stubborn positioning work.
- Can supplement second-level releases with swipes and chops, compounding separation.
- Has the alignment versatility to play the boundary, slot, or be utilized on motions.
Weaknesses
- Is relatively light and lean with middling proportional length.
- Middling length can impact his reach as a playmaker on deep vertical passes.
- Long speed and burst are more potent with runways to stretch the field.
- Despite short-area twitch, he has more proficiency as a linear vertical athlete.
- Can be prone to occasional focus drops when passes force him to overextend.
- Sometimes lets the ball too far into his frame on RAC passes, requiring time to gather.
- Sometimes drifts past sit points without control, impacting chemistry with QB.
- On occasion, can make a more concerted effort to press and sink at stems.
- Sometimes loses his balance on hitches and comebacks, eroding timing on throws.
- At times, could stand to make his plant-and-drive footwork more efficient.
- Has room to keep expanding his release package to further weaponize his traits.
- Has average contact balance and play strength after the catch.
- Is a willing blocker but sometimes overshoots angles and struggles to sustain.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Entering the 2025 NFL Draft cycle, Bond grades out as a top-64 prospect who could ascend into the first-round conversation with a good year at Texas. There’s a void at the WR position for the Longhorns, and it’s one Bond can fill with his dynamic traits.
Physically, Bond has everything he needs to be a stellar three-level threat in the modern game. His blend of explosiveness, speed, and flexibility is extremely conducive to route-running success, and those same mobility traits make him a RAC weapon defenses must respect.
Already, Bond is a fairly smooth and nuanced separator, with an impressive route tree and good alignment versatility. And on the vertical plane, his speed — in tandem with his ball-tracking ability, body control, and steady hands — makes him a dangerous big-play threat.
Bond is a speed threat with separation chops, but he also plays with surprising physicality. In fact, one of his most exciting traits is the authority with which he approaches positioning and how he continually forces defenders to play big with his active hands leading up to catches.
Bond will never be an overwhelming force on pure contested targets, but he has a promising three-level-threat framework, with the “football player” mentality and toughness to tie it all together. More simply put: He’s a big-play threat with the little-play utility to keep the chains moving.
At his peak, Bond can be an impact starter for an NFL offense, and he has the alignment versatility to play as a movement-Z receiver with slot, boundary, and motion capabilities.