![\"Caleb](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2268330165-e1774996264130.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Ohio State defensive back Caleb Downs running through a drill at the OSU Pro Day.<\/p>\n
The New York Jets<\/a> have a chance to pull off the heist of the 2026 NFL draft.<\/p>\n NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein<\/a> predicted the Jets would do that by selecting Ohio State defensive back Caleb Downs<\/a> with the No. 16 overall pick in the first round of his latest mock draft.<\/p>\n \u201cDowns\u2019 slide stops with the Jets, who should be overjoyed to add a culture player offering a tremendous competitive nature and the ability to play strong safety and some nickel,\u201d Zierlein wrote.<\/p>\n According to the consensus big board<\/a>, Downs is ranked as the No. 9 best overall prospect in this class and the top-ranked defensive back.<\/p>\n There have been mock drafts<\/a> that have featured Downs being the No. 2 overall pick in the first round to the Jets. In this scenario, they get him with the other first-round pick that they acquired from the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> in the Sauce Gardner<\/a> trade.<\/p>\n The Reason for a Potential Slip-and-Slide<\/p>\n Downs has the potential to fall on draft day for two reasons.<\/p>\n Firstly, he plays the safety position. It isn\u2019t valued as a premium position in football.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is unwise to take a safety with the second choice [because of] the salary cap ramifications. The rookie wage scale is determined by draft slot. The player\u2019s position has no bearing on the contract he receives. A safety chosen second overall would get the same contract as an edge rusher. Yet, relative to their position, a safety chosen second overall would be a far worse value for his team than an edge rusher,\u201d Michael Nania<\/a> of Jets X-Factor explained.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to Spotrac, the second overall pick in the 2026 draft is projected to earn a four-year, $52.5 million deal. The average annual salary is $13.1 million, and the first-year cap hit is $9.3 million,\u201d Nania added.<\/p>\n That $13.1 million annual salary would immediately place Downs as the No. 15 highest-paid safety in the NFL<\/a>, per Over The Cap<\/a>.<\/p>\n The other problem is some medical red flags.<\/p>\n According to Corey Kinnan from \u201cDaft on Draft\u201d, Downs received some bad news at the NFL Combine.<\/p>\n \u201cI was told by an NFC scout that Ohio State all-class safety Caleb Downs had a couple of issues flagged during his medical check,\u201d Kinnan wrote via Yahoo Sports<\/a>. \u201cNobody expected him to test this week anyway, so it flew a bit under the radar. However, I was told that Downs was flagged with a partially torn meniscus this week. That is not a serious concern, but also being flagged with a potentially degenerative ACL is.\u201d<\/p>\n Jets Can Afford to Risk It<\/p>\n Taking Downs at pick No. 2 overall would probably be too risky. However, if he starts slipping and sliding down the board, that\u2019s a different conversation.<\/p>\n There are two boxes that Downs checks for the Jets.<\/p>\n He is versatile with the ability to play multiple positions on the backend of the defense.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like being able to play multiple positions is what makes people useful, makes people special \u2026 Like being able to play in the box, play in the deep part of the field, slot, nickel or dime \u2014 yeah, I think that makes people unique,\u201d Downs said at the NFL Combine via Randy Lange<\/a>.<\/p>\n Downs said he can come into a facility and help with a \u201cculture change.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tPaul Esden Jr.<\/a> covers the New York Jets for Heavy.com. A New York native, he co-hosts a morning show, “The Manchild Show with Boy Green Digital.” Before joining Heavy in 2021, Esden Jr. covered both national and New York sports for FanSided, Elite Sports NY, and The Score 1260. More about Paul Esden Jr.<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Jets\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Ohio State defensive back Caleb Downs running through a drill at the OSU Pro Day. The New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2051],"tags":[7,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-846581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jets","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-jets","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkjets","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116328279913843872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846581","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=846581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}