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BYU defensive lineman Tyler Batty runs a drill at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. The former BYU standout is hoping to hear his name called during this week's NFL draft. | Michael Conroy, Associated Press
Read any of the dozens of 2025 NFL draft previews, and it quickly becomes apparent that the annual player selection meeting taking place in Green Bay, Wisconsin, won’t be short on outstanding defensive ends.
Edge rushers from big-time programs such as Penn State’s Abdul Carter and Georgia’s Mykel Williams comprise one of the deepest positions in this year’s draft, which begins Thursday and runs through Saturday.
BYU defensive end Tyler Batty isn’t drawing nearly as much attention as those guys, and there are probably more mock drafts that don’t include him as there are mock drafts that do, but Batty remains optimistic that he will hear his name called before the seventh and final round concludes Saturday afternoon.
Of course, that’s nothing new. Anyone who followed Batty’s stellar high school career at Payson and outstanding five-year career at BYU knows he is one of the more positive-thinking players to ever pass through Provo.
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Batty said last Saturday when he was asked by the Deseret News if he believes he will be drafted. “Not to toot my own horn, but things are looking really good. I don’t think it is a question of whether or not I will be drafted. I think it is just a matter of when, and where, than if.”
A two-time All-Big 12 performer, Batty isn’t the typical NFL draft prospect because he served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Malaga and Madrid, Spain, before enrolling at BYU in 2020.
He has been married since 2021 and will turn 25 on May 2. That’s ancient, according to some NFL draft experts. Others, including BYU head coach Kalani Sitake and Batty, say age is just a number and the player’s maturity and life experience will be an asset to any NFL team.
“I don’t think it is an issue, to be honest with you. If anything, it may be more of an advantage, because of the maturity. A lot of teams are drafting young guys straight out of college. Some guys have only been in college for two or three years, so they are young,” Batty said. “So I think for me it definitely can be an actual strength.
“They know who I am. There are no frills. There are no worries. I am not going to have off-the-field issues. I am who I say I am. My age is good, in that way.”
How grounded and mature is Batty? When he was asked what he will buy when and if he gets his first NFL paycheck or signing bonus, he said it will be something for his wife, Alaina, “to reward both of us a little bit.”
“Gotta take care of her,” he said. “She has been incredible, and been an awesome support system through this pre-draft process.”
Then he might add to his Audi collection — he has several — including a 2008 Audi S4 “with a 4.2 liter V8 stuffed into a four-door wagon that weighs under 4,000 pounds,” he said. “Kind of the the last of its kind.”
Batty, who graduated from Payson in 2017, is also smart enough not to name his favorite NFL team growing up, or the one he hopes picks him, saying he likes all of them and would be honored to play for any of them.
Batty could be another breakthrough for BYU
If he is drafted, Batty would become the first BYU defender to be selected since 2021, when defensive back Chris Wilcox went in the seventh round, 251st overall, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The other BYU defender who is getting some pre-draft attention is cornerback Jakob Robinson, partly because he ran a 4.3-second 40-yard dash at Big 12 Pro Days in Frisco, Texas, last month.
Batty also attended the event, but did not participate in drills because he had posted good numbers at the NFL combine in Indianapolis in February. He did participate in a lot of interviews and believes he has spoken to at least one representative of every team in the NFL the past three months.
“You get some hard questions. They pull up some film that maybe isn’t the best that you have and ask you to sort through it,” he said. “But I didn’t get any questions that were too crazy.”
He said his age wasn’t discussed much, either. And he’s wise enough to know that there are no guarantees, relating a story told to him at the East-West Shrine Bowl by former NFL linebacker Sam Acho.
The former Texas star said before the 2011 draft he was told by Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin that they were going to take him in the first round. He ended up going to the Arizona Cardinals in the fourth round.
“I have had a few coaches tell me that if anyone tells you they know where you are going, they are full of it,” Batty said. “The team that is going to draft you doesn’t even know until the day of the draft. So it is one of those things where, yeah, you get a little bit of love here, or you get some interest there.
“I would say there have been plenty of teams interested, and at the table. But when it comes down to specifics, no, you can’t really say for sure. … You don’t know for sure until you get that phone call.”
Speaking of which, Batty said his plans for Saturday are “a little more low-key than most,” which is his way. He will get together with his family for a barbecue and just watch the draft and relax.
“I am just waiting for it to get here, at this point,” he said. “It has been a long four months.”
Jumping right into it after Alamo Bowl
Shortly after BYU pounded Colorado and its probable first-round draft picks such as Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders 36-14 in the Alamo Bowl, Batty signed with an agent — Carter Chow of Red Envelope Sports — and headed off to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to train with XPE Sports.
Since BYU offensive tackle Caleb Etienne was also in Fort Lauderdale, training with Bommarito Performance, the former teammates hung out a few times on off days. Etienne is also hoping to hear his name called on Saturday.
Carter Chow is the son of longtime college football coach Norm Chow, and has many ties to Utah County.
“First off, he is a great dude, a great individual. That’s what attracted us to him. And then on top of that he is also a great agent and has been in the industry for a long time,” Batty said. “He knows his way around football. He is not new to the game by any means. He was just the right fit for us, personality wise. When it came time to make a choice as to who we were going to have represent us, Carter was an easy answer.”
Batty was the only BYU player invited to the NFL combine, and it was after his performance in Indy and at the East-West Shrine Bowl in Arlington, Texas, that he began to show up on some NFL mock drafts.
At the combine, he ran a 4.78-second 40-yard dash and posted 27 bench-press reps. His vertical leap was 34 inches, and his broad jump was 10 feet.
“I was relatively happy with how things went at the combine. You always want to do better. That is kind of the beast that the combine is. … When it came to the on-field testing portion, if you are a competitor you always want to have done better. But that’s kind of where I ended up, is happy with how I performed, but wishing that I maybe had done a little bit better.”
Boosting his stock in Big D
At the East-West, AJ Schulte of A to Z Sports reported that Batty “has been arguably the most impressive pass rusher” during practices and that Batty was “regularly winning one-on-one drills” and getting to the quarterback routinely.
During the television broadcast on the NFL Network, former NFL star Shawne Merriman was asked which players impressed him during the practices and he mentioned Batty before anyone else.
“He jumped off the film for me and stood out in practice,” Merriman said.
So what do the mock drafts say?
Chad Reuter of NFL.com has Batty going in the fifth round to the Minnesota Vikings.
CBS Sports has him going to the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round.
He’s ranked as the No. 171 overall prospect by Pro Football Focus, which would put him at the end of the fifth round. NFL Draft Buzz has him as the No. 193 prospect, which would mean a sixth-round pick.
A fond farewell to BYU
Whatever happens, Batty said he has no regrets. He’s happy that he chose to return to BYU in 2024 when some were saying he needed to move on because of his age. He’s grateful that he was part of a team that went 11-2 overall, 7-2 in the Big 12, and beat rival Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“I think BYU did a great job of preparing me, both academically and football-wise, to take this step into the NFL,” he said. “BYU coaches helped me understand the game of football on a deeper level and developed me to the point I am at now. BYU just gave me the resources to do that.”
He graduated in 2023 with a degree in communication, and has been working on an advanced degree the past year.
“Getting a degree helped me understand the business side of football, and football as an industry,” he said. “BYU prepared me to be a part of an organization and bring value to that organization on and off the field.”
No matter how old he is.
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BYU defensive end Tyler Batty (92) celebrates his interception against Kansas State in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
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