It’s that time of year.
This week, Caleb Downs became the latest NFL draft prospect to see his stock come into question after Daft on Draft’s Cory Kinnan reported that the two-time unanimous All-American defensive back was flagged at the NFL Scouting Combine with a partially torn meniscus and “a potentially degenerative ACL.”
On Tuesday, Pat McAfee addressed the report on The Pat McAfee Show, pushing back on the claim after conducting his own follow-up.
We reached out to multiple NFL teams about Caleb Downs this morning..
They told us that there is NOTHING in the medical that would deter them from brining him in #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/4TSopny8aU
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 3, 2026
“Caleb Downs, there’s a report coming out, and who knows what’s real and what isn’t, but we do know that even the people that aren’t considered real, if their s— generates enough traffic it does become a topic of conversation for people around the league, especially if it involves somebody who was deemed a Hall of Famer the first day they were on campus at Alabama,” McAfee said.
“We reached out to the Downs family, and the Downs family immediately sent us to a ‘Suit.’ Sent a thumbs up, never gonna do that. So then we go to a couple of NFL teams and we tried to do a little follow-up on what we have heard. Multiple NFL teams have told us there is nothing in the medical that would deter us from bringing Caleb Downs in, especially with how great of a football player he is.”
McAfee, who acknowledged he fell for an AI-altered image of Lorenzo Styles Sr. posing with Sonny and Lorenzo Jr. on Monday, reiterated that draft season is prime time for rumors.
“Who knows what’s real and what isn’t, but we do know that this (report) kind of made its run on the internet,” McAfee said. “There wasn’t one NFL team we talked to this morning that said anything was wrong, and we talked to multiple. This feels like it’s all bulls—, but this is kind of the name of the game in this time.”
There is no significant concern with his knee..
The stock of Caleb Downs will not drop because of any medical #PMSLive https://t.co/EGfloGJoaq pic.twitter.com/hFxzU3Ooai
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 3, 2026
McAfee added that even if Kinnan received the information from an NFL team, it could be part of a broader strategy — a franchise that “may like him the most” attempting to nudge Downs down the board.
Downs, who did not participate in workouts at the combine, remains a projected top-10 pick in the 2026 NFL draft. In ESPN’s latest mock draft, released nearly 48 hours after Kinnan’s report, analyst Jordan Reid projected the Washington Commanders to select Downs with the No. 7 overall pick.