Atlanta Falcons select Billy Bowman in 4th round of 2025 NFL Draft

The Atlanta Falcons have selected Oklahoma safety Billy Bowman with the No. 118 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He spent his entire four-year college career with the Sooners as a key part of the secondary and will look to find similar success in the pros.

Bowman was a starter ever since his true freshman season in Norman. He started 41 of 47 career games in all, ending his college career tied for 14th in program history with 11 interceptions, three of which returned for touchdowns. He also has 199 career tackles, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and 14 passes defended.

The 5-foot-10 safety had his best year as a junior in 2023, recording six interceptions and all three of his career pick sixes, the latter of which set a single-season school record. One of those was a 100-yard return in the fourth quarter against BYU that gave Oklahoma the lead. He also ranked third on the team with 63 tackles to earn first team All-Big 12 honors.

This past season, Bowman added two more interceptions and two fumble recoveries, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Additionally, he had 54 tackles on his way to being named third team All-SEC.

Bowman joined OU as a four-star recruit out of Denton Ryan (TX) High School in 2021. He ranked as the No. 60 overall player and No. 2 athlete in the cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Billy Bowman

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein provided some additional analysis on Bowman during his recent scout of the safety’s draft profile. He noted that Bowman’s size is his biggest weakness as, at 5-foot-10, he is shorter than most other players at his position.

But what Bowman lacks in size he makes up for with his instinct, as evidenced by his knack for finding interceptions. Zierlein believes he still has what it takes to be an impactful player at the next level.

“The only things keeping Bowman from a higher grade is a lack of NFL size and his inconsistencies as a tackler,” Zierlein wrote. “He’s fluid and athletic to man up over the slot. He’s meddlesome to float around looking for playmaking opportunities in zone coverage. He’ll struggle matching on big bodies and will get beat on jump balls downfield.

“He loves to rocket downhill to support the run but he lacks stopping power and will miss his share of tackles. His size and tackling inconsistency might be a concern for some teams, but he’s too instinctive and versatile to overlook as a safety/corner hybrid with starting talent.”