Josiah
Ezirim.
Josiah
Ezirim.
Eastern Kentucky
"A defensive end for two years, an FCS All-American tackle by his last one — Ezirim was drafted for the slope of that line, not the place it had reached when the clock ran out on him."Pre-draft read
A converted defensive lineman who finished his Eastern Kentucky career as the Colonels' anchor tackle, Ezirim plays with unusual mass and length for the level and moves like a man twenty pounds lighter. His best reps come on the move — reach blocks, pulls, climbs to the second level — where he eats up ground, tracks linebackers in space and finishes with intent.
In protection he is a set-and-strike tackle still learning the craft: length lets him land first contact and stall speed off the edge, and he anchors respectably when his pads stay down. The signature is the raw athletic profile at 6-6 and 329 pounds — a two-year offensive lineman who still thinks like a defender with his hands and whose pass-set angles lag well behind his tools.
Gap/power run scheme that asks tackles to displace bodies, with early-career reps at right tackle or a swing role
Year 1: practice squad developmental tackle and jumbo package body while rebuilding pass-set footwork. Ceiling: swing tackle who can start in a spot role for a downhill run team.
A quick-game passing offense that leaves its tackles on an island in true drop-back sets — his oversets against speed and late hands get exposed without chip or slide help.
The defensive-line background helps against stunts and games; the deficit is pure rep count in pass protection.
2024 NFL Draft Prospect Zoom Interview: Josiah Ezirim, OT, Eastern Kentucky
Pre-draft interview covering his conversion from defensive line to tackle.
Josiah Ezirim's first interview with the New Orleans Saints
Draft-day introductory press availability after being selected 239th overall.
Josiah Ezirim on the pre-draft process and getting picked by the Saints
Long-form conversation on his development path at Eastern Kentucky.
Ezirim is a developmental FCS tackle with a defensive-line origin story. Recruited to Eastern Kentucky as a defensive end out of Hilliard Davidson in Ohio, he spent his first two seasons on that side of the ball before the staff flipped him to offense, and by 2023 he was one of the most decorated linemen in the Colonels' program. He is enormous, long and light on his feet, and the tape is full of moments where the athleticism outruns the technique.
The production case is about honors rather than numbers. His final season brought AP FCS third-team All-America honors, a Stats Perform nod, Phil Steele recognition and all-conference honors, and it earned him an invitation to the Scouting Combine — rare air for a UAC lineman. The flags are just as plain: two years of real experience at the position, a diet of FCS edge rushers, hands that fire late, and a habit of overextending into contact when he wants to finish.
Boards treated him accordingly. Evaluators at PFF, Steelers Depot and across the small-school circuit landed on the same phrase — developmental project with starter-caliber traits — and slotted him in the seventh round or priority free agency. New Orleans, never shy about betting on size late, took the swing at 239 and planned to redshirt him behind a veteran tackle room.
- 01
Rare mass with mobility
6-6, 329 pounds with the ankle flex and short-area burst to reach defenders playside and still climb clean to the second level.
- 02
Length that plays
long arms let him initiate first and keep rushers off his frame, and he uses them to reset when a defender gets into his chest.
- 03
Defensive-line instincts
the conversion left him with a defender's feel for leverage and hand placement, and he recognizes stunts faster than most first-time tackles.
- 04
Finisher on the move
genuinely enjoys the run game, drives his feet through contact on down blocks and buries linebackers when he gets a clean angle in space.
- 05
Trajectory and honors
went from defensive end to AP FCS All-American in three seasons, and the improvement curve was steep enough to earn a Combine invite.
- 01
Two years of experience
he learned the position on the fly and the processing shows on twists, delayed pressure and any front that moves before the snap.
- 02
Pass-set footwork
kick slide gets choppy and he oversets against speed, opening an inside lane that better rushers will take every single rep.
- 03
Waist bender
plays tall in a phone booth and lunges to finish, which costs him balance and puts him on the ground more than a 329-pound tackle should be.
- 04
Level of competition
the FCS edges he handled do not simulate NFL length or counters, and he never tested himself at an all-star game.
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Eastern Kentucky | — |
| 2020 | Eastern Kentucky | — |
| 2021 | Eastern Kentucky | — |
| 2022 | Eastern Kentucky | — |
| 2023 | Eastern Kentucky | — |
| Career | — | — |
Offensive linemen do not accumulate counting stats. Ezirim appeared for Eastern Kentucky in all five seasons from 2019 to 2023, playing defensive line in 2019-2020 before converting to offensive tackle. Per-season games played and games started are not published in any verified source, so they are left unset rather than estimated.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Developmental swing tackle whose value lives on the practice squad and in emergency starts rather than a locked-in job.
Big-bodied, late-blooming tackle who turned raw mass and length into a real starting career once the footwork caught up.
Late Day 3 lineman with traits who bounces between practice squads and alternate leagues without an NFL regular-season snap.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
New Orleans drafted him as a developmental body and treated him like one. He worked at tackle through the 2024 offseason, played in the preseason, and was waived in the initial roster cuts on August 27, 2024 before returning to the practice squad the following day. He spent his rookie year there, never dressing for a regular-season game, and signed back on a minimum deal for 2025. That second summer went the same way with a worse ending: the Saints released him in August 2025, and no NFL team claimed him. He finished his league tenure without a single regular-season snap, and his PFF page still reads "not enough snaps" for 2024. In January 2026 the Dallas Renegades selected him in the UFL's first free-agent draft, and he opened the year on their active roster at 6-6, 328 pounds.
In hindsight this was the seventh round working exactly as advertised. The traits were real and the pick cost nothing, but a two-year offensive lineman from the UAC needed a slower runway than a fringe roster spot allows, and the technical gap that scouts flagged never closed fast enough to survive cut weekend. He is not a bust in any meaningful sense — he is a lottery ticket that did not hit, still young enough for the UFL to be a legitimate second act.
Data note: Offensive linemen do not accumulate counting stats. Ezirim appeared for Eastern Kentucky in all five seasons from 2019 to 2023, playing defensive line in 2019-2020 before converting to offensive tackle. Per-season games played and games started are not published in any verified source, so they are left unset rather than estimated.