Isaiah
Bolden.
Isaiah
Bolden.
Jackson St.· 6'2"· 205 lb· 4.31s 40
"The only HBCU player drafted in 2023, Bolden was a seventh-round athletic bet from Jackson State — a preseason injury stole his rookie year and his NFL window never truly opened."Pre-draft read
Bolden is a size-and-speed outlier. At 6-2 and 205 pounds with a 4.31 forty and a 9.53 Relative Athletic Score, he can press an outside receiver, carry him vertically and still be in phase at the sideline. He returned kicks at Jackson State the way that profile suggests, leading all of college football with a 36.9-yard average and two touchdowns in 2021.
The coverage craft lagged behind the tools. His footwork at the line is raw, he opens early and guesses on double moves, and his ball production essentially disappeared after Florida State: he did not record an interception at Jackson State despite playing 23 games. He plays the receiver rather than the throw, which is fixable with reps and was not fixed by the time he was drafted.
Press-man scheme that lets a long, fast corner travel outside while special teams carries his roster value
Year 1: kick returner and coverage-unit core; ceiling: outside corner in a man-heavy defense
Zone-match defense that requires quick pattern reading and disciplined eyes on the quarterback
New England, San Francisco and Philadelphia have all valued him as a special teams athlete first.
Bolden started at Florida State, played 13 games in 2019 with nine tackles, an interception and two pass breakups, and then transferred to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He sat out the 2020 spring season, became a national weapon on kickoffs in 2021 with a 36.9-yard average and two return touchdowns, and finally handled a full defensive load in 2022 with 44 tackles and seven pass breakups across 13 games.
The pro day is what put him on boards. He ran 4.31 hand-timed and 4.33 on laser, jumped 38 inches and 10-9, and finished with a 9.53 RAS at a position where that number is nearly always predictive of NFL athleticism. There is no NFL corner conversation without those measurements, and there was no Bolden conversation without them either.
He was also carrying an FCS résumé and a thin coverage file. Zero interceptions in two Jackson State seasons, technique that needed rebuilding, and a competition level that made every projection a guess. He was the only HBCU player drafted in 2023 in a class that took four the year before. New England used the 245th pick on the traits and the return value, which was the right price for the risk.
- 01
Elite athletic testing
A 4.31 forty, 38-inch vertical and 10-9 broad jump at 6-2 produced a 9.53 RAS, top-tier among all corners ever measured.
- 02
Rare size and speed combination
Very few corners carry 205 pounds at that height and still run with an NFL vertical threat.
- 03
Game-changing kick returner
Led all of college football with a 36.9-yard kickoff return average and two touchdowns in 2021.
- 04
Press potential
The length and recovery speed let him jam a release and still make up ground when the initial punch misses.
- 05
Special teams floor
The speed and willingness in coverage units gave him an immediate NFL job independent of defensive snaps.
- 01
No ball production
Zero interceptions across two Jackson State seasons, which is the single loudest warning sign on a corner's résumé.
- 02
Raw technique
Footwork at the line and in the transition needed rebuilding, and he opens his hips early against double moves.
- 03
FCS competition level
The defensive tape came against SWAC receivers, so every NFL projection was extrapolation rather than evidence.
- 04
Plays the man, not the throw
Late to locate the football in phase, turning contested reps into pass interference risks.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.31sp50
- Vertical
- 38inp50
- Broad jump
- 129inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Florida State | 13 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2021 | Jackson State | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Jackson State | 13 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Career | — | 36 | 61 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
Bolden played one game at Florida State in 2018 while preserving a redshirt and did not play in Jackson State''s 2020 spring season; neither is listed rather than being zero-filled. Interception and pass breakup splits for 2021 are unverified.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- National leader in kickoff return average (36.9 yards, 2021)
- Two kickoff return touchdowns in 2021
- Only HBCU player selected in the 2023 NFL Draft
Return-first defensive back who earns a roster spot with special teams value.
Raw long speed corner from a small program who becomes a starter once the technique catches up.
Elite athlete with no ball skills who bounces between practice squads and spring leagues.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Bolden suffered a head and neck injury in an August 19, 2023 preseason game at Green Bay that caused the game to be suspended, and New England placed him on injured reserve on August 29, ending his rookie season. He returned in 2024 to play all 17 games, primarily on special teams. Released in 2025, he joined the 49ers practice squad in December, signed with the UFL Louisville Kings in February 2026, and Philadelphia signed him in August 2026, where he opened the season on the active roster.
Everything stopped in the preseason. On August 19, 2023, Bolden suffered a head and neck injury in Green Bay so severe that the game was suspended and he was carted off the field. The Patriots placed him on injured reserve on August 29, ending his rookie year before it began, and for a while the question was whether he would play football again.
He did. Bolden returned in 2024 and appeared in all 17 games for New England, almost entirely on special teams, which is the exact role his draft profile predicted. The Patriots released him in 2025 and San Francisco added him to its practice squad in December; he signed with the UFL's Louisville Kings in February 2026 and Philadelphia brought him back to the NFL that August after their preseason opener. He was on the Eagles active roster in September 2026. The coverage never caught up to the speed, but the man walked off the worst night of his career and made himself an NFL special teamer anyway.