Caleb Downs

The Player

Downs is a versatile safety who wore many different hats in three different schemes at Alabama and then Ohio State. He’s clearly best as a strong safety/big nickel type who plays closer to the line of scrimmage. A three-year starter (Alabama, 2023; OSU, 2024 and 2025), Downs played 2,489 snaps on defense and special teams in his college career. He was the first freshman in Alabama history to lead the team in tackles (107). In 44 career starts, he amassed 256 tackles, 16 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 12 pass breakups, six INTs, and three forced fumbles. It’s also worth noting that he averaged 16.3 yards on six punt returns with a touchdown in 2024. Simply put, Downs’s accountability, preparation, and work ethic are legendary, and he’s an all-time force multiplier as a leader in the locker room.

Downs has exceptional instincts and recognition skills, with a keen eye for pre- and post-snap keys, formation tendencies, ball location, and angles of pursuit. He has a sixth sense for tracking the ball and shows zero hesitation when he sees it—that’s what truly sets him apart.

He’s a fluid mover in coverage, using his fast eyes and knack for angles to limit windows in the passing game. He also has shown enough strength, toughness, and savvy to match tight ends man-to-man. He thrives in underneath zone, where he deciphers coverages, plants his feet, and drives in a flash, and he’s more than capable when matching short to intermediate routes like quick passes, crossers, etc. He needs to become more responsible in deep zone coverages. He sometimes looks lost when forced to account for multiple receivers coming in and out of his zone. He does not have the smoothest transition when he has to flip his hips and react to a ball being thrown over his head.

Downs doesn’t have elite ball production. However, teams avoided challenging him in the passing game, so his opportunities were limited. What you do see from him on tape is excellent body control and awareness around the football, especially driving on the ball in front of him. He plays with loads of confidence, and he knows when to attack the ball versus when to attack the body. His hands are incredibly quick to knock the ball down at the last second.

He’s a menace in run support—especially when playing in the box and/or near the line of scrimmage. He plays a lot bigger than his size, utilizing an excellent combination of instincts, agility, and lightning-fast hands to work through traffic and off blocks. It’s also worth noting that he shows great timing/instincts as a blitzer, and he’s vicious and has great closing burst in pursuit.

He was a tackling machine in college (256 tackles in three seasons), but his tackling consistency and form can still improve (he has a career missed tackle rate of nearly 11 percent). There are dozens of examples on tape over the past three seasons where he’s in position to make the stop, but he whiffs by diving at the ballcarrier’s lower body.

The Draft

On one hand, Downs is one of the two or three best players in the 2026 NFL draft class. On the other hand, he’s a safety (non-premium position) with unspectacular physical attributes (height, length, bulk, speed). Don’t expect Downs to be a top-four selection, but he should be off the board by pick 10. 

The Projection

Downs grades out as a day-one starting safety and high-impact defender in the NFL. His instincts are damn near flawless (that’s where the Ed Reed comparisons begin and end, as Downs is not a ball-hawking center fielder like Reed was for the Ravens). Downs’s game compares most favorably to Eric Berry’s (fifth pick in 2010 and a five-time Pro Bowler) and Earl Thomas’s (14th pick in 2010 and a six-time Pro Bowler).