00:05Field Yates of ESPN had the Giants taking Ohio State playmaker in safety Caleb Downs fifth
00:11overall in his newly released mock draft. The top five was as follows. The Raiders obviously
00:17taking Mendoza. The Jets taking Arvel Reese which is linebacker. The Cardinals taking
00:22offensive tackle Francis Muagua. I keep butchering his name y'all. The Titans taking
00:29edge David Bailey and then he has the Giants passing up on a wide receiver and going with
00:36Downs. Now for this to happen in my opinion that means that the Giants made a splash move
00:41in free agency to sign a vet receiver to pair up with Malik Nabors or they think they can draft
00:47that
00:48playmaking receiver in a later round because I'm not passing up on another weapon on the perimeter
00:54with a young quarterback and Jackson Dart to take a safety at five unless you and your scouts have
01:01identified this kid as being the next Ed Reed or even Troy Palomaro. Luckily for the Giants and for
01:08Caleb Downs, John Harbaugh has coached Hall of Famer Ed Reed and Kyle Hamilton who went 14th overall to
01:15the Ravens in 2022. The man likes his safeties. So after watching the tape and breaking it down,
01:22Caleb Downs is top five worthy. Defensive coordinator Denard Wilson would love to have
01:27this guy in the secondary because he does it all. Six foot, 205 pounds. He can play near the line
01:33of
01:33scrimmage as a box safety or even a big nickel or he can play over the top and play with
01:38range.
01:39He can cover. He can run the alley. He has football IQ and this kid tackles with violence.
01:46And did I mention he adds value as a punt returner as well. So here's four plays from the past
01:52two
01:52years where Caleb Downs has put top five quality on tape. Three of the plays show how Denard Wilson
01:59could be creative with them and the other shows the value that this kid brings to the roster,
02:05not just the defense and this Blue Rush mock draft breakdown.
02:11All right, I wanted to start off with the play to show how this kid can run the alley. His
02:17football
02:17IQ is going to show up all throughout this breakdown. So that just goes without saying,
02:22but watch how he runs the alley and makes a play on this football. Just check him out.
02:30Goes over the top and drives. Runs, just makes a play and open field. Open field tackle. There's too
02:38many times, and this is not to knock, put a knock on anybody. Too many times where giant safeties,
02:44whether it's the free or the strong, just took bad angles when they were coming downhill and running
02:49the alley and a bad angle could lead into a potential big play. Not with this guy. Caleb Downs is
02:57a
02:57absolute space eater, and he showed that throughout two seasons at Ohio State. You see him. He's not
03:05even in camera right there. Comes downhill at six foot 205 and lays the boom. Knocks it out of the
03:15park.
03:16Now, I wanted a play. I wanted to get three defensive plays and then go to the punt return,
03:21but our associate producer, Brendan Kramer, who pulled the plays for me,
03:26loves this kid and wanted to put the punt return in there early. Big moment right here against
03:32Indiana. Makes someone miss and then puts his speed on tape. When is the last time you saw
03:42safety make big plays in the return game? Again, Honey Badger, Tamron Matthews,
03:48and then it would be Ed Reed, I would say. So you see how this kid can make an impact,
03:54not only on the defensive side of the football, whoop, makes somebody miss, but also in special
04:00teams as well. I don't see him coming to the league returning punts, but hey, at the end of the
04:04day,
04:05if he's a playmaker, let a playmaker be a playmaker. This play right here versus Penn State,
04:13and here he is lined up right here. This is, again, this kid has 11 minutes of highlights
04:24on YouTube, and it's hard to pick which is your best play, but hands down, this is the best play
04:32I saw him make while he was in college because this shows football IQ to another level. Watch this.
04:40They're in empty formation. Ohio State's going cover zero. He's man-to-man on this guy. You're
04:47man-to-man on number two. You're man-to-man number three. Man-to-man, I mean, man-to-man
04:52number three.
04:53Man-to-man number two. Man-to-man number one, and I don't mean actual numbers, just where they line
04:59up.
04:59That's how we identify who's who when it comes to playing receiver. Inside leverage here.
05:05Watch how he plays both his man and the slot.
05:13Goes back and makes the play in the end zone. You tell me if that is not a top five
05:18overall pick type
05:19play. To put your butt, turn your butt like you're playing man to that stop route, and then go and
05:26make a play on the box fade in the end zone. Young man, welcome to New York. It's not official
05:33right now, but if you're there at five, I'm sorry. I'm passing up on receivers, corners. Doesn't
05:39matter. This is a playmaker you can put at safety. Again, when we talk about cover zero, everyone's
05:44playing inside leverage. Why? Kids at home, you have no help in the inside. They're sending one,
05:50two, three, four, five, six. You only have five to block, and the quarterback is accounted for
05:56the free rusher. Looking at the quarterback here, splitting the difference, playing his inside
06:01technique. Knowing that that's a long throw to that stop route. He knows he's going to play
06:07two to one because they're going to throw in the end zone to make a play in the end zone.
06:13He has the confidence in his ability to rally and make a tackle if it's thrown short. He has the
06:20confidence in his ability and his speed to run and make a play on the ball that's thrown out here.
06:26If this receiver was to run a slant, you're already playing into where Caleb Downs is. You're playing
06:32into his leverage, but watch how he plays here. Turns his back to the quarterback and fakes like
06:41he has eyes on the receiver. Quarterback sees that. That's what he sees, so he's automatically
06:47thinking, I've got this slot fade, this box route, as you know, in some offenses you call it. I've got
06:54him one-on-one with, I don't know if that's a corner, I don't know who that is, but it
06:58doesn't
06:59matter because watch Caleb Downs for the rest of that. You're not making that throw. I dare you to
07:05make that throw. That's a pick six. So now he sees that that box fade or that corner route or
07:10anything,
07:11any outbreaking route, he was prepared to help on. And instead of helping, forget the help.
07:18I'm the playmaker here. This kid's going to walk into the NFL with a 90-something overall awareness
07:27in Madden. Last but not least, we talked different ways Denard Wilson could use him. So we already
07:36showed how he can run the alley. We already showed him with his football IQ and coverage. We showed the
07:42punt return, but that has nothing to do with Denard Wilson. Now when he blitzes, how he navigates
07:48the trenches while he blitzes. So right now it looks like it's some sort of cover one.
07:54Man-to-man here. Someone's man-to-man on the back. He was showing, let me rewind this just a
07:59little bit.
08:01He was showing that he was man-to-man on number three, man-to-man on two, man-to-man
08:06on one.
08:07Can't be cover zero again because you got the safety in the middle of the field unless he was going
08:11to
08:11run down and play this third receiver from the safety position. But don't worry about that.
08:17He's showing that he was going to be man-to-man here with number three. And then right before the
08:24ball is snapped, takes off and looks how he navigates through there. Now I don't know where
08:29his insert, where Matt Patricia, defense coordinator Matt Patricia, wanted his insert. But I mean,
08:36it looks like he found where he knew the weakness in the gap slide or protection was going to be
08:45because he comes from all the way outside of the box and blitzes to the, I can't see where the
08:53center
08:53is. The center is right there. So he blitzes to the opposing A-gap on the other side.
09:05Closes, makes the play. It's impressive that he stood up. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Now better,
09:11better look here. So if I'm this quarterback here, I'm thinking, all right, we got man-to-man,
09:15we got cover one. Somebody's going to be on that back. I'm protected here. I'm protected.
09:21But at the snap of the foot, look at him. Look at him. Look at him time that up. Look
09:28at him run the lane,
09:29run the alley, and get the sack. He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He knew exactly how he
09:36was
09:37going to get there, and he chose violence for the way that he was going to get there. Look, I'm
09:42not
09:42big on drafting a safety in the top 10 unless this kid is all world. This kid right here, ladies
09:49and
09:49gentlemen, is all world. And he is a day one special defensive rookie of the year candidate.
09:56But he may be a pro bowler in his rookie season.
10:02This man is Honey Badger, Tyron Matthew, reincarnated, but bigger. Buckeyes defense
10:09coordinator Matt Patricia lined this kid all up over the field and really let him put his skill set on
10:14tape. His 2025 snap by position where 5% of the time he was lined up on the defensive line,
10:2133% of the time in the box, 39% at free safety, and 22% in the slot. You're
10:28not drafting a position
10:30here. You're not drafting a free or strong safety. You're drafting a weapon, a potential future Hall
10:36of Famer. The Giants did sign Javon Holland in last year's free agency, and they do have second
10:41year safety Tyler Newbin, who Joe Shane drafted in the second round in 2024, but he had a down year
10:48in
10:48his production. And Holland didn't really play up to his contract. So when you go 4-12 and you have
10:54one of the worst defenses in the league, everybody is replaceable when a new head coach and defensive
11:00coordinator comes into town. I see Caleb Downs coming in and being an instant starter. And I can
11:06also see a potential package where Denard Wilson has all three of these guys on the field at the same
11:12time. All in all, I think a lot would have to happen for them to grab him at number five.
11:17It's
11:18like a domino effect type selection, but he's the type of player that if he's there, it's going to be
11:23hard to pass up on this man. So if the Giants want their defense to have more turnover on downs
11:29in 2026,
11:30it's going to start by drafting downs at five.
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