New York Giants Draft Prospect Profile: SAF Caleb Downs, Ohio State

Caleb Downs, Safety

Height: 6’0”
Weight: 206 lbs
Class: Junior
School: Ohio State
Hands: 9 ½”
Arm length: 30 ¼”
STATS

A former five-star recruit out of Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Georgia, where he was the number one recruit from his state and the number one safety during the 2023 recruiting cycle. He was the eighth recruit that year and initially took his talents to Alabama for one season.

He played 890 snaps for Bama as a true freshman, with excellent grades from Pro Football Focus. He then entered the transfer portal after the 2023 season and went to Ohio State; he was the number one recruit in the transfer portal.

He played a total of 2,489 defensive snaps through his three seasons in college (final two at Ohio State). He helped the Buckeyes win the National Championship in 2024. He finished his college career with 96 STOPs and an 11.1% missed tackle rate, while aligning all over the defense for the Buckeyes in Matt Patricia’s exotic defense.

Downs won the Lott Trophy and the Jim Thorpe Award in 2025. He is a two-time Unanimous All-American (2024 & 2025), and he was a Second-Team All-American in 2023. He won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 2025, and was the Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year in 2024 and 2025.

He was First-team All-SEC in 2023 and was a two-time First-Team All-Big-Ten in his two seasons at Ohio State. His father, Gary, played college football at NC State and spent seven years in the NFL. His uncle was Dre Bly, who played 11 years in the NFL and his brother is Colts’ receiver Josh Downs.

Ohio State Buckeyes defensive back Caleb Downs catches a ball during Pro Day for NFL scouts at the Woody Hayes Athletics Center on March 25, 2026. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Strengths

Massive NFL bloodlines
Solid NFL size w/ very good athletic ability
Fluid player with smooth transitions – great feet
Discerns route concepts fantastically out of BUNCH
Explosive downhill trigger with excellent short-area-quickness
Very good range – can play centerfield
Elite spatial awareness at all three levels of the field
Elite eyes over the middle of the field
Elite buzz defender + route recognition
Elite zone defender
Vision on routes over MOF is elite
Sees the field as routes manifest
Eliminates throwing options in his area of operations
Very good man coverage defender
Understands how to maintain leverage and harass
Squeezes receivers off red-line in man from slot
Elite safety in the box ability – destructive!
Excellent run support defender with sure-angles
Excellent pursuit run support defender from the backside
Good at stacking & shedding to the front side
Excellent tackler from depth and near the LOS
Provides good pop on contact
Burst at the LOS to pressure or in run support is difference making
Elite communicator with exceptional football IQ
Versatile alignments – excels all across the formation
Elite leadership skills and competitive toughness

Weaknesses

Solid NFL size, but not difference making for top-five consideration
Lacks desirable length
Very good athlete but same reason as above
Excellent tackler but needs to wrap up more consistently
Can run himself into crowded areas – could use some more patience when flying downhill near the LOS when there’s a pileup.

Summary

Caleb Downs is an elite processing safety with elite field vision and reactive quickness to eliminate throwing windows as they’re opening. His ability to perceive offensive intentions, and react accordingly, is second to none.

Downs possesses an immediate ability to explode from a stagnant stance and disrupt routes underneath him, while also leveraging that short-area-quickness to trigger downhill to be an A+ asset in run support.

The addition of a player like Caleb Downs, due to his ability to fit the run from depth and operate around the line of scrimmage, will give a defense the ability to play lighter up front, enticing defenses to run the football.

Downs is reliable and can allow defenses to potentially steal gaps while preventing offensive explosive passing plays. His discernment and reactive quickness are weapons sharper than many players who operate the safety position at the NFL level.

Downs possesses elite spatial awareness and football IQ at all three levels of the field. He can impact the game deep with his eyes and range, while being a deceptive defender in zone to bait quarterbacks into mistakes over the middle of the field.

He also impacts the game well at the line of scrimmage, which keeps the offense honest – all while being excellent in run support. I understand taking a safety in the top five without elite size/AA is unconventional and risky, but Caleb Downs is an outlier I would be willing to bet on.

GRADE: 7.08

Nick Falato's Draft Grade Chart | Nick Falato

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