{"id":260237,"date":"2025-08-04T04:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T04:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/260237\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T04:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T04:43:09","slug":"todd-mcshay-raves-over-caleb-banks-as-2026-nfl-draft-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/260237\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd McShay raves over Caleb Banks as 2026 NFL Draft prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida<\/a> defensive lineman Caleb Banks<\/a> hasn\u2019t produced a ton of stats so far throughout his college career, including his past two seasons with the Gators. Still, with what he has shown on tape, Todd McShay thinks Banks could reach the point of being a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McShay previewed some of the top defenders in next year\u2019s draft last week in an episode of The McShay Show<\/a>, and included Banks<\/a> on his sky-high potential alone at the next level.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a fifth-year player. Spent first two seasons at Louisville<\/a>, didn\u2019t do a whole lot before transferring<\/a> to Florida \u202619 tackles, 1.5 for loss, one sack as a rotational player for Florida in 2023. But, in 2024, he kind of broke out, and that\u2019s the tape that I studied,\u201d McShay said of Banks. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t sound like massive production but he played a lot more snaps and he ended up with 21 tackles, seven for loss, and 4.5 sacks, also two forced fumbles.<\/p>\n

\u201c6-foot-6, 320 pounds. Estimated 5.2 (second 40-yard dash), which is about, you know, solid. Judging by the way he runs, I would guess he\u2019s close to like 5.0, 4.9-something. \u2026You don\u2019t write body beautiful many times in your scouting report when you\u2019re talking about a 320-pounder. He is body beautiful,\u201d McShay continued. \u201cHe runs well. Impressive athleticism for his size. I was impressed by\u2026it\u2019s not that same twitch and sudden. But you have to train your brain that I\u2019m looking at 320, I\u2019m looking at 6-6, 320. So, his takeoff, man. Like, whether he\u2019s flashing in front of a guard on a slant or getting up, you know, penetrating up the field. Pretty damn impressive. He\u2019s got snap in his hands too and he\u2019s got some upper body, like, pop. And I also like his flexibility. I thought he was pretty flexible. So you start stacking these traits on top of one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, McShay did note one area of improvement for Banks in being better able to handle double teams. That con in his game in two-on-ones surprised him, though, considering how he excels for the most part in one-on-ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not a space eater. So, you look at his frame and you\u2019re like, are we looking at like, a zero technique. He\u2019s just not,\u201d McShay said. \u201cI don\u2019t mind his effort. Like, I think he plays hard. He\u2019s not the type of guys who\u2019s going to turn his back to it and give that lazy rep against double teams. But, consistently, he loses versus double teams. So that\u2019s an area I want to see him improve. But, the funny part is I think he\u2019s also kind of got some country strong to him. He dominates one-on-ones. It\u2019s kind of a weird thing to watch because he just, he can\u2019t, whether he\u2019s too high maybe, and I don\u2019t see him rising like some other guys, but he can\u2019t quite take on that double team and just occupy.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, the biggest difference maker for Banks this Fall is whether or not he can show even more of an ability to get through a block to McShay. If he can put it all together with his technique, it could be what separates him from being a fine draft pick to one who could hear his name called on night one come April.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most important things I learned in scouting defensive linemen, whether it\u2019s an edge or an interior guy, you\u2019re not gonna win with pure speed very often in the league if you don\u2019t have the combination of the power to put fear in offensive linemen. \u2026 It was like this epiphany of, wait, you\u2019re not just going to win with speed. These guys are too good at the next level,\u201d McShay added. \u201cHow do you work? Because they\u2019re always going to reach you at some point. How do you work from that point? And so, when I watched him \u2014 and, yes, I saw that there\u2019s only 4.5 sacks last year, and I watched on tape and he\u2019s got to get home a little bit more. I think there are times where I\u2019m watching him and he left a couple sacks on the field. He doesn\u2019t necessarily quite know like some counters and different things. But his effort is great and he engages and he gets that guy jacked back, jacked back upright.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there\u2019s that moment of truth when the offensive lineman resyncs his hips and gets inside, can he work with that torso flexibility and kind of have that country strong, that core strength to work through that edge? The really good pass rushers work half a man. If I\u2019m trying to beat, I\u2019m not taking his whole body on. I\u2019m working his right side or his left side. \u2026 It\u2019s all about when you get that moment of truth where we now are engaged because it was inevitable,\u201d McShay continued. \u201cCan I kind of grind my way around that right or left side of you as a massive human being? The great ones do. The good ones do sometimes. The guys that fail and become draft busts are the ones that just never learn, because they were so fast and they were so athletic and they were so talented and they were able to kind of jack a guy up, but then didn\u2019t have any counters, didn\u2019t have that torso flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, a lot still has to come together for Banks to be at that point come next spring, whether with more development or improved production this fall in Gainesville. But, if it does happen, McShay, who admitted he has a better evaluation of him than most right now based on attributes alone, absolutely sees a first-rounder in him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave him a high grade. I gave him a 91, 92,\u201d McShay said. \u201cI believe in this guy. This guy\u2019s got a lot of the traits and that\u2019s why I gave him a high grade. And I recognize I\u2019m probably higher than a lot of people on it \u2013 and I\u2019m not saying that\u2019s where he\u2019s going to wind up, definitively going in the first round or definitively going in the Top-20,\u201d McShay concluded. \u201cBut I\u2019m saying, if he makes that next step and continues to develop? I think he\u2019s got a shot, man.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida defensive lineman Caleb Banks hasn\u2019t produced a ton of stats so far throughout his college career, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5781,7,6,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-260237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-caleb-banks-21-southfield","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114968671800146739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}