Yahya Black NFL Draft 2025 Scouting Report for Pittsburgh Steelers DL

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Iowa DL Yahya Black with the No. 164 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

Yahya Black has great size and impressive strength at the point of attack to be a solid nose tackle in the NFL. He needs to play with better leverage and base, but his physical gifts should intrigue teams and might make him worth taking a flier on in the later rounds of the draft.

MEASUREMENT AND WORKOUT RESULTS

HEIGHT: 6'6"

WEIGHT: 336

HAND: 10¼”

ARM: 35”

WINGSPAN: 83⅞”

40-YARD DASH: 5.39

3-CONE: 7.63

SHUTTLE: 4.72

VERTICAL: 25.5"

BROAD: 8'5"

POSITIVES

— Great size with very long arms.

— Has the strength to win at the point of attack and stand up offensive linemen as a run defender.

— Long arms allow him to get plenty of extension and escape blocks when he picks his hands straight up from the ground

— Hard to move with one-on-one base blocks and is solid against double-teams.

NEGATIVES

— Not explosive off the ball, hurting the effectiveness of his bull rush. Rushes with bad pad level and has subpar leg drive through contact.

— Doesn't show any pass-rush moves that he can win with in the NFL.

— Takes on blocks with a narrow base, causing him to occasionally lose balance on first contact and leading to him getting collapsed inside against down blocks.

— Lacks the agility to avoid getting reached.

NOTES

— Born April 21, 2002

— 3-star recruit in the 2020 class, per 247Sports

— Injuries: 2022 (Foot, missed 5 games)

— 2023 Honorable Mention All-Big Ten

— 2024 Honorable Mention All-Big Ten

GRADE: 5.8 (Backup/Draftable — 6th-7th Round)

OVERALL RANK: 265

POSITION RANK: DL26

PRO COMPARISON: John Ridgeway

Written by B/R NFL Scout Matt Holder