My Top 10 List Of NT's & DT's in 2025 Draft

This one's for you Snakehead. I wouldn't mind bringing in this guy as an undrafted rookie free agent or a late 7th round pick. He can't do any worse than Christian Boyd who the Saints drafted in the 6th round last year. That guy barely saw the field. I believe Black may have a little more upside than Boyd.
Black is a block-eating interior defensive lineman who does his best work extending his arms and locating the football against the run. Black is powerful at the point of attack, he also has active violent hands. He can take on double-teams and stack and locate very well. He's shows good awareness at the line of scrimmage in passing defense to bat down passes. These are his career stats: 59- tackles, 13- TFL's, 5.5- sacks and 11- Pass Defensed.
Black does have a few concerns. His first step consistency, pass rush impact and balance needs to be refined. He will need some time to further develop as an interior pass rusher.

Yahya Black- (IDL) Iowa (6'5"/317#)

Black lined up in many gaps and ate up blocks against the run, freeing up linebackers to do their job. He communicates well to the second level with "heads up" pats on his rear to indicate which gaps the linebackers should be paying attention to. O-Linemen find themselves at his mercy when he gats his hands on the inside of blockers and extends. Black can locate the football quickly and can make quick lateral movements to disengage and chase down the ball carrier. His pad level is generally good, but at times his hand location can miss outside, allowing blockers to move him out of the play and occasionally onto the ground. Against double team blocks, Black uses the "Kickstand" technique and tries to twist himself into gaps to disrupt the play in the backfield and his anchor is good enough to eat up double teams.
Black doesn't have a refined pass rush plan or toolbox as a pass rusher, but he flashes a "snatch-swim" technique and the lateral disengagement to affect the passer. He's best as a pocket collapser, but a lot of the time he's removed from the field in passing situations. Even when his move wins, he lacks some explosiveness upfield to clear the blocker and close on the QB.
Black can be an impactful run defender for NFL teams that practice gap control along the defensive line. However, his lack of explosiveness and pass rush upside will limit him to two-down run defender until his pass rushing technique is further developed.

Just a note: I noticed that he has to give signals to the linebackers on which gaps to defend. Usually it's the MLB that gets the D-Line lined up and communicates to the other linebackers what gaps to hit. That tells me that the linebackers can't diagnose plays on their own. I believe Black can be coached up and inserted into the rotation while he develops, especially on running downs. He should be able to replace Shepherd.