{"id":647950,"date":"2026-05-04T00:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/647950\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T00:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:36:08","slug":"colorado-transfer-defensive-lineman-a-top-prospect-for-2027-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/647950\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado transfer defensive lineman a top prospect for 2027 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/ncaaf\/teams\/colorado-buffaloes\/3424\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Colorado Buffaloes;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Colorado Buffaloes&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Colorado Buffaloes<\/a> need as many bodies on their defensive line as they can get, and one of those pieces is hopefully New Mexico State transfer Ezra Christensen.<\/p>\n<p>Christensen was a big pickup for Colorado this offseason, but is still <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/colorado-dl-still-facing-eligibility-184258958.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:facing eligibility concerns;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;facing eligibility concerns&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">facing eligibility concerns<\/a> and has not been with the Buffs this spring. It remains unlikely that Christensen receives a waiver, but if he does, he ranks among the top defensive linemen eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Pro Football Focus ranks Christensen as the No. 57 overall player in next year&#8217;s draft class and the seventh-highest graded defensive tackle. Christensen is coming off a season with the Aggies, where he was PFF&#8217;s highest graded defensive tackle with an 88.6 grade. He racked up the most quarterback hurries (28) in the FCS by a defensive lineman.<\/p>\n<p>With 40 pressures and six sacks, Christensen&#8217;s presence along Colorado&#8217;s defensive line would be immense. However, with his uncertain status, Colorado is using the spring to see what other potential fits are in the portal, including an <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/colorado-targeting-division-ii-defensive-181322346.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:intriguing Division II defensive lineman;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;intriguing Division II defensive lineman&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">intriguing Division II defensive lineman<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, Christensen&#8217;s eligibility decision is a significant storyline this summer, especially considering his NFL potential.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Follow Charlie Strella\u00a0on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/charlie_strella\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;X&quot;}\" class=\"link \">X<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@charlie.strella\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Threads;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Threads&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Threads<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/charlie.strella\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Instagram&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Contact\/Follow us\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuffaloesWire?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:@BuffaloesWire;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;@BuffaloesWire&quot;}\" class=\"link \">@BuffaloesWire<\/a>\u00a0on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BuffaloesWire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Facebook&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradobuffaloeswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/buffaloes\/football\/2026\/05\/03\/colorado-football-ezra-christensen-2027-nfl-draft\/89921938007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Colorado football&#039;s Ezra Christensen a top 2027 NFL Draft prospect;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Colorado football&#039;s Ezra Christensen a top 2027 NFL Draft prospect&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Colorado football&#8217;s Ezra Christensen a top 2027 NFL Draft prospect<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Colorado Buffaloes need as many bodies on their defensive line as they can get, and one of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,313614,6962,44328,256865,24249,313613,58248,593,85],"class_list":["post-647950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-christensen","tag-colorado-buffaloes","tag-defensive-line","tag-defensive-linemen","tag-defensive-tackle","tag-ezra-christensen","tag-new-mexico-state","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}