The Reason Ohio State S Caleb Downs WON'T Be A Top 5 Pick

AtoZ Sports

Why isn’t Caleb Downs a top 5 lock in the 2026 NFL Draft? In this in-depth scouting report, Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts break down the Ohio State safety’s game — analyzing the key concerns and untapped potential that could cause him to fall outside the top 5. Don’t miss this expert evaluation of one of college football’s biggest names.

Transcript

00:00Caleb Downs is being regarded as one of the best safety prospects ever. How does he stack

00:05up against some of the other biggest names? Stay tuned to find out where we stand on the Ohio State

00:10DB. Ohio State safety Caleb Downs is already being considered the best prospect in the 2026

00:21class. Ryan, let's first just talk about what makes him such a great player that he's at least

00:26worthy of that consideration. Yeah, I mean, I think he reminds me a lot of Buda Baker. If you

00:30watch a lot of Cardinals film over the last couple of years, I mean, he's one of the better safeties

00:34in the NFL. And I think that Downs' game is a big parallel to him because of the size, obviously,

00:40right? Like I don't think that Downs is quite the six foot that he's kind of listed at. He's probably

00:44more in the five, 10 and a half range, but he's really physical, strong downhill, great tackler

00:50in space. And he's incredibly instinctual, which makes a lot of sense when you consider his brother

00:54as an NFL wide receiver. His dad was a former college football player and NFL player that also

01:00is a college coach currently. So this is a young man that plays with great anticipation,

01:05great instincts, and is one of the best tackling safeties that we've seen come out in several

01:08years. He was pretty productive last year. And I found it really funny that during the season,

01:13people were trying to be critical of Caleb Downs because his production wasn't like exemplary.

01:18He still had 81 tackles, seven and a half tackles for loss, six pass breakups and two

01:23interceptions. And when you watch him, you kind of understand why his production is that way,

01:27why he's not a ball hawking guy. He's not somebody who is playing from depth, who's playing from range,

01:32who is over the top and just attacking the ball when it's in the air. Ohio State was deploying him

01:39very uniquely and it was deploying him to play to his skillset. He's physical, he's willing to hit,

01:46he is a pretty reliable tackler. So they were dropping him in the middle of their defense

01:52and a little bit more closer to the line of scrimmage, allowing for him to make plays against

01:57the run, allowing for him to make plays against the ball when it was being thrown over the middle

02:01of the field. But I think that that starts the conversation of why wasn't he playing from over

02:07the top? Why wasn't he playing from depth when he clearly has the fluid hips, the speed, the

02:12athleticism and that range to do it successfully. It's just not a lot of coverage reps from him when

02:17you watch him. Yeah, no, I would, I would phrase it like this, Joe. I think that Caleb Downs is a

02:22lot better coming towards the line of scrimmage and like laterally it's good, but I don't think

02:28that he's a pure, like true free safety type. It's going to play from depth. That's going to

02:32rotate to the middle of the field. There is a big reason to your points of why is this kid playing

02:37mid hole short zone and some man reps against bigger slots at times and tight ends. Like that's

02:43kind of how he's utilized in Ohio state system. Cause I just don't think that he's a, I don't

02:47think that he's going to be a tremendous coverage player on the NFL level. I think that he is much

02:52more a role specific safety in terms of coverage that has high upside as far as his ability to come

02:58back towards a lot of scrimmage and be that tackler, be that enforcer, be that box player.

03:03I don't think this is the generational safety that some people are acting like he is. I think he's a

03:07very good prospect, clear first rounder in this class from what I've seen so far, but is he a top 10

03:13level player in this class? Is he a guy that should go in that range? Is he a guy that is

03:17going to be one of the best safety process we've seen to come out in some time? I think that's

03:20kind of where the conversation has got a little bit hyperbolic. Yeah. I think that there is a lot

03:26of hyperbole when we're talking about him, very good player, one that is worthy of going in the first

03:30round. We need to pay attention though, to the history of the safety position over the last couple

03:36of years and where certain guys have been drafted. And I know that this is going to be perceived as a

03:40slight. People are going to think I'm being super negative and critical of him, but we watched Kyle

03:44Hamilton slide into the teens who was a generational prospect, six foot four, could fly all over the

03:52field. And anyone who wants to argue with me that he wasn't a better prospect, look at the results in

03:56the field now. And the general overthink of drafting a safety early, he has turned into one of the best

04:02defenders in the NFL because he is such a rarity. Malachi Stark, same thing happens. His film in 2024

04:07wasn't as exciting as we were hoping for when we talked about him last summer, but he still had

04:13really good tape and he's still a really just fantastic, fluid, cerebral football player. He goes

04:19in the end of the first round for a guy that was projected to go in the teens, even more, a better,

04:23better example here. Nikim and Wari has the best combine testing performance ever for a safety. He

04:29goes in the second round. I'm saying all this to say, I don't think Caleb Downs goes in the top 10.

04:34I don't, I don't think that it is realistic to expect that he will be a top 10 pick, especially

04:38knowing the amount of quarterbacks that are going to be in the discussion that teams that need

04:43quarterbacks will likely take them before they consider taking a safety.

04:48Safeties fall down the board. And I want to hyper-focus again, a prior that you just talked

04:52about. Kyle Hamilton at six foot four, 220 pounds was so athletic and had such good range for Notre

04:58Dame. They literally asked him to play single high free safety a ton during his time at Notre

05:04Dame. That was a rare player. That was a rare athlete. And if that type of athlete and that

05:09type of upside didn't go in the top 10, I just don't know how you project right now a Caleb

05:15Downs to go quite that high. I think that he will be a foregone conclusion as a first rounder

05:20due to his instinctual nature, his mental side, his physicality. But again, we need to pump our

05:26brakes a little bit as this kid being the number one player in this class or a surefire top 10 pick.

05:31Very good prospect, but just kind of look at the historical trends. Most likely a safety is not

05:37going to go in the top 10, especially I think in this style of a guy that I think is a little bit

05:41limited in some, in some ways. Just as quickly, as we always do to highlight his recruiting background,

05:47he was coming out of the state of Georgia. He played at Mill Creek high school. He was the number

05:53one recruit in the state of Georgia, the number one safety, and he was nationally the seventh overall

05:58prospect in the 2023 class. He originally played for Alabama. He was huge for Alabama's

06:05run to the Rose Bowl and they were knocked out by Michigan. And there's the transfer portal after

06:09Nick Saban retires and he goes to Ohio State and the rest has been history. Again, fantastic football

06:15player. He now gets a new defensive coordinator with Matt Patricia to utilize him this season. And

06:21we'll truly understand what he can be as a player. And hopefully we do get to see more opportunities for

06:26what does he do from depth instead of the role that he was playing last year in Jim Knowles' defense.

06:33Downs had an argument as the top overall player in the 2023 recruiting class. He was that good. He

06:39was a true five-star player and we've seen it the last two years, Joe, like projecting as a college

06:43football player. He's fantastic. Obviously chose Alabama originally Ohio state finished second

06:48Notre Dame and Georgia were a couple other teams that were in that recruitment pretty late into it,

06:53but ultimately he dominated in the SEC as a freshman, played really well for Ohio state down

06:58the stretch in their national title run. This is a great college football player who will be a heck

07:02of an NFL player as well. Folks hit that like button and subscribe and let us know your thoughts below

07:07on Caleb Downs. Are you a believer that he is a top five prospect or do you think that maybe he could

07:14slide a little bit, let us know below and we will talk to you later.

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