It might be the most heated debate in the NFL draft world right now.<\/p>\n
Can you take a safety with the second overall pick?<\/p>\n
People are only talking about it because Ohio State\u2019s Caleb Downs is that great a prospect.<\/p>\n
The New York Jets are expected to take the first non-quarterback of the 2026 NFL draft, after Fernando Mendoza presumably goes first overall to the Las Vegas Raiders.<\/p>\n
Many of the favorites to be taken by New York at No. 2 are prospects at premium positions. We\u2019ve already broken down the film of four of the top options: edge rushers Arvell Reese<\/a>, Rueben Bain Jr.<\/a>, and David Bailey<\/a>, and wide receiver Carnell Tate<\/a>.<\/p>\n Safety is not considered to be as important a position as edge rusher or wide receiver in today\u2019s NFL. But is Downs a special enough prospect to break the mold and be selected over those four aforementioned prospects?<\/p>\n That\u2019s what we\u2019re here to find out today.<\/p>\n Forget the stats. Forget the accolades. What does the All-22 film say? Does it show the next Ed Reed, as many say?<\/p>\n On the latest episode of Blewett\u2019s Blitz, we analyze Downs\u2019 2025 performances against Texas, Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, and Miami.<\/p>\n Below is the full Caleb Downs scouting report (strengths and weaknesses) and film review.<\/p>\n Strengths:<\/p>\n Good angles as a tackler<\/p>\n Violent player<\/p>\n Smart<\/p>\n Processes quickly<\/p>\n Breaks down well in space<\/p>\n Hit power<\/p>\n Baits QBs in zone<\/p>\n Good at reading route combos<\/p>\n Heavy communicator<\/p>\n Chess piece<\/p>\n Overall athleticism<\/p>\n Acceleration<\/p>\n Can line up in man coverage<\/p>\n Stays square in off coverage<\/p>\n Looks for work, refuses to cover grass<\/p>\n Re-routes well in underneath zones<\/p>\n Slips blocks well (mostly)<\/p>\n Likes to throw shots<\/p>\n Click and close in run game<\/p>\n Potential as blitzer<\/p>\n Good range (didn\u2019t see enough reps to say \u201cgreat\u201d)<\/p>\n Awareness<\/p>\n Weaknesses:<\/p>\n Can try to deliver big hit too often<\/p>\n Can stare at QB for too long<\/p>\n Wanted to see more MOF sideline-to-sideline reps to determine range<\/p>\n Lack of man reps vs. slot WRs<\/p>\n Feet can get a little inactive in off man<\/p>\n Can be an \u201cankle biter\u201d as a tackler<\/p>\n Can leave feet as tackler<\/p>\n Could shed blocks with more consistency<\/p>\n Can gamble for INTs (not always a bad thing)<\/p>\n More NFL draft film reviews:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It might be the most heated debate in the NFL draft world right now. Can you take a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[29095,331,198,7,3228,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,15,14401,7823,7824,3234],"class_list":{"0":"post-756322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-blewetts-blitz","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-featured","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-free-content","13":"tag-jets","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-jets","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkjets","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-nfl-draft","20":"tag-ny-jets-film","21":"tag-ny-jets-image","22":"tag-ny-jets-videos-highlights","23":"tag-standard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116081315554579384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756322","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=756322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}