{"id":559131,"date":"2026-03-25T06:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T06:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559131\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T06:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T06:08:10","slug":"one-ex-nfl-gm-says-former-ohio-state-star-is-not-top-10-worthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559131\/","title":{"rendered":"One ex-NFL GM says former Ohio State star is not top-10 worthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Ohio State <\/a>safety Caleb Downs had a productive and celebrated career in college and has shown up as one of the top players in most mock drafts<\/a>, but there is one former NFL GM who does not think he is worthy of a top-ten pick in next month’s NFL draft.<\/p>\n

Speaking on \u201cThe Rich Eisen Show\u201d<\/a> in early March, former Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> GM Mike Mayock acknowledged Downs is \u201ca hell of a football player\u201d and a definite first-round selection, but stopped short of labeling him a top-10 talent.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI love him as a player, but I don\u2019t see him as that dynamic difference-maker. So I don\u2019t see him as a top-10 pick,\u201d Mayock said.<\/p>\n

Mayock was the Raiders GM from 2019 to 2021, did have a lot of positive things to say about the former Ohio State defensive back. He praised Downs\u2019 football IQ, instincts, and tackling ability. He mentioned Downs can operate effectively both in the box and as a free safety. However, the veteran evaluator said he isn\u2019t seeing enough \u201cdynamic plays on the ball\u201d to justify a top-10 slot for a safety in this year\u2019s class.<\/p>\n

The critique comes despite Downs\u2019 decorated college resume<\/a>. The 21-year-old junior was the defensive heartbeat of Ohio State\u2019s national championship-winning 2024 squad and earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year<\/a> honors in 2025. He is a two-time unanimous All-American and finished his Buckeye career<\/a> with 257 total tackles, six interceptions, and three forced fumbles.<\/p>\n

Some analysts argue Mayock\u2019s assessment overlooks the context of Ohio State\u2019s elite secondary, which may have limited Downs\u2019 turnover opportunities. ESPN\u2019s Jordan Reid<\/a> still projects Downs going No. 7 overall to the Washington Commanders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One can say that Mayock may not exactly be the best judge of talent<\/a> at the top of the draft, as his notable first-round picks include: Clelin Ferrell (4), Josh Jacobs (24), and Jonathan Abram (27) in 2019. And in 2020, he selected Henry Ruggs (12) and Damon Arnette (19). Then, in 2021, he drafted Alex Leatherwood (17).<\/p>\n

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The NFL draft is less than a month away, and we will all get to see firsthand if current GMs feel the same way about Caleb Downs as someone no longer employed by a team does.<\/p>\n

Contact\/Follow us\u00a0@BuckeyesWire<\/a>\u00a0on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on\u00a0Facebook\u00a0to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion.\u00a0\u00a0Follow Sunny on X:@<\/a>thesunnyv<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Ohio State star not top ten draft material according to one ex NFL GM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Ohio State safety Caleb Downs had a productive and celebrated career in college and has shown up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[216289,49,115070,48,57706,57606,53032,14230,95775,16387,1736,216287,514,5003,216288,82,1758],"class_list":["post-559131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-alex-leatherwood","tag-ca","tag-caleb-downs","tag-canada","tag-clelin-ferrell","tag-damon-arnette","tag-first-round-selection","tag-gm","tag-henry-ruggs","tag-josh-jacobs","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-mike-mayock","tag-nfl","tag-ohio-state","tag-raiders-gm","tag-sports","tag-washington-commanders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}