Caleb Downs Scouting Report

Caleb Downs is a versatile ballhawk who makes plays all over the field and is capable of making impact plays.

Draft Grade: Round 1 - Pro Bowl Caliber

Strengths:

Versatility: Downs is a defensive back who can play on all three levels of the defense and make an impact.

Playmaker: Downs has a natural ability to find his way to the football and make a timely play via interception, force fumbles, or clutch tackles.

High IQ/Football Intelligence: Downs has great pre-snap identification that leads to elite post-snap processing and puts him in position to make plays all over the field.

Physicality/Tackling: Downs has proved to be an effective and efficient tackler. He is also capable of making big-time hits on ball carriers that set the tempo.

Leadership: Downs is a high-motor, vocal leader who plays hard every down and sets a physical tone for the entire team.

Concerns:

Ball Production: While Downs is a great defender against the run, his ball production, as far as interceptions, is minimal. That could be attributed to a number of factors, but it should be something of note when it comes to projecting what position or alignment is best for Downs to play in the NFL.

Man-to-Man Coverage: Throughout his collegiate career, Downs appears to play primarily in zone drops. This brings the question of how good he is playing in man-to-man situations. 

Caleb Downs Summary/Projection:

Caleb Downs is a junior defensive back who began his career at the University of Alabama before transferring to Ohio State for his sophomore season. His impact was immediate. Downs emerged as one of the top defensive players in college football and became a key piece of the Buckeyes’ national championship run. He’s a versatile, high-IQ defender who plays all over the field with physicality, effort, and awareness. Downs is a violent tackler with a high motor who consistently finds himself around the football.

On film, the first thing that stands out is Downs’ positional versatility. He lines up everywhere from single-high safety and two-deep looks to strong safety in the box, linebacker-level alignments, and even on the line of scrimmage. What makes that versatility so valuable is not just his ability to line up in different spots, but his ability to make plays from those alignments. Downs is especially impactful within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage in run support. He displays advanced pre-snap recognition and anticipates run concepts based on formation. Once he diagnoses the play, he showcases outstanding explosiveness—planting, driving downhill, and arriving at the ball-carrier with speed and force.

Downs is a highly reliable tackler, rarely missing. He wraps up consistently and finishes through contact. He plays with sideline-to-sideline range and maintains top-end effort on every snap. Downs is also a violent hitter who can separate the ball from the ball-carrier, and he brings an intimidating physical presence to the defense. He plays with elite closing speed, especially when triggering downhill as a run defender.

Against the pass, Downs adds value as a movable piece within the defensive scheme. He’s an ideal safety to rotate post-snap, disguising coverages by starting in a two-high shell and dropping into the box. His coverage instincts and athletic traits are on full display here. Downs is an explosive lateral athlete with excellent change-of-direction skills. He reacts quickly, plants and redirects with precision, and shows the fluid hips to turn and run vertically with receivers, staying in phase on downfield routes.

Because of his versatility, Downs is a defensive coordinator’s dream. He can drop into any zone, rotate late to disrupt quarterback reads, and cover any part of the field. His intelligence and range make him an ideal fit for zone-heavy or disguise-heavy coverage schemes that rely on post-snap rotation and deception.

The biggest concern for Downs as a prospect is his man-to-man coverage ability, particularly against elite, athletic receivers. At Ohio State, he has primarily operated in zone schemes—covering underneath areas like hook/curl zones or flats—which limits the number of true man-coverage reps available for evaluation. It’s not that he’s shown to be deficient in man coverage, it’s that there simply isn’t enough tape to confidently project that ability. That uncertainty will be a key question for NFL scouts and evaluators during the pre-draft process and could determine how teams project his role at the next level.

Overall, Downs is a highly instinctive, versatile, and physical defensive back with the skill set to be a difference-maker in the NFL. While questions remain about his man coverage ability, his high floor, elite football IQ, and ability to play in multiple alignments make him an ideal fit for modern NFL defenses that prioritize versatility and disguise.