If you want to know who the best defensive player in all of college football has been for the last 3 seasons, that’s ok. It’s not really a debatable topic.
It’s Ohio State safety Caleb Downs. No one else has even really been close.
Downs is finally eligible to become an NFL draft pick in 2025 following one season at Alabama and 2 seasons with the Buckeyes — including a College Football Playoff National Championship last season and another CFP appearance this year.
CBS Sports draft expert Ryan Wilson has Downs projected to go to the Washington Commanders with the No. 7 overall pick in his latest mock draft.
It’s the kind of pick and the kind of player who could have the same impact on the defensive side of the ball that 2024 No. 2 overall pick and quarterback Jayden Daniels has had on offense.
“Downs could be a Troy Polamalu-level talent in the NFL,” Wilson wrote on December 30. “He’s only 5-foot-11, and he may not end up running a 4.35-second 40-yard dash, but I don’t care. Not even a little bit. Both Kyle Hamilton and Brian Branch Jr. slipped on draft day because of mediocre 40 times. They’re two of the best young defensive backs in football. Downs is a run-game enforcer and has the sideline-to-sideline juice, coupled with the short-area burst, to excel in pass coverage.”
Downs Perhaps Greatest Safety in CFB History
It’s not hyperbole to say that Downs, at this point, should enter the conversation as one of the greatest defensive backs in college football history — alongside legends like Ed Reed and Ronnie Lott — and should one day find himself enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Here’s a smattering of Downs’ accomplishments over the last 3 seasons:
- CFP national champion (2024)
- Lott Trophy (2025)
- Jim Thorpe Award (2025)
- 2x Unanimous All-American (2024, 2025)
- Second-team All-American (2023)
- Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year (2025)
- 2× Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year (2024, 2025)
- SEC Freshman of the Year (2023)
- 2× First-team All-Big Ten (2024, 2025)
- First-team All-SEC (2023)
Downs is the type of player who, when re-drafts happen eventually, ends up being the No. 1 or No. 2 overall pick. Falling to the Commanders at No. 7 would be manna from heaven.
‘Generational’ Talent on Defense
“Far too many players are described as ‘generational,’ but they don’t make them like Caleb Downs very often,” NFL writer Eric Lind wrote on X on November 1.
Downs is the type of safety who projects as an NFL All-Pro and Pro Bowler on the next level from almost the moment he steps on the field.
“Caleb Downs is the single best prospect for the 2026 draft cycle,” Bleacher Report’s Daniel Harms wrote. “With his experience in Matt Patricia’s defense, he’s going to hit the ground running for whatever NFL team drafts him … He was tapped as a unanimous All-American, Big Ten Conference’s Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year and all-Big Ten in 2024 after being named the Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Year after his 2023 campaign.”
Talent evaluators have had Downs pegged as a possible first round pick from when he was just a schoolboy — he was named the USA Today National Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at Mill Creek (Georgia) High School in 2023.
Commanders Projected to Add Big Ten Safety With All-Pro Potential