{"id":847491,"date":"2026-04-01T16:43:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/847491\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:43:17","slug":"bengals-deemed-best-fit-for-very-popular-top-10-option-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/847491\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals Deemed Best Fit For Very Popular Top-10 Option In 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN’s\u00a0Matt Bowen<\/a>\u00a0tied 20 top draft prospects to their best fits for the 2026 cycle, and one of\u00a0Cincinnati’s\u00a0most popular options got the best-fit nod for the Bengals: Ohio State safety Caleb Downs.<\/p>\n

He could be a no-brainer pick for Cincinnati on April 23, depending on how the rest of the top 10 plays out.<\/p>\n

“I\u00a0think Downs could go higher in the top 10, but this was the best fit in my eyes after the Bengals\u00a0signed\u00a0safety\u00a0Bryan Cook\u00a0in free agency,”\u00a0Bowen wrote<\/a>.\u00a0“Under coordinator Al Golden, Downs would be an interchangeable safety. He could rotate low in the single-high zone while playing over the top from depth. Plus, with\u00a0Downs’\u00a0ability to disrupt the line of scrimmage, Golden can play him as a big nickelback in three-safety personnel. He has the urgent play demeanor to set the identity of\u00a0Cincinnati’s\u00a0defense.”<\/p>\n

A Potential Position Overhaul\"Ohio<\/p>\n

Ohio State Buckeyes safety Caleb Downs leaves the field with a rose in his mouth following the 42-17 win over the Tennessee Volunteers in the College Football Playoff first round game at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Dec. 21, 2024. Ohio State will face Oregon in the Rose Bowl. | Adam Cairns\/Columbus Dispatch \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Cincinnati<\/a>\u00a0would have completely overhauled the safety room positively during just one offseason if Downs is the pick.\u00a0He’d\u00a0slot right in with Cook and Jordan Battle, who played pretty solid ball down the stretch of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Bengals\u00a0director\u00a0of\u00a0player personnel\u00a0Duke Tobin<\/a>\u00a0has plenty of factors to weigh with some of the best draft capital\u00a0they’ve had all decade.\u00a0Fixing the safety spot was clearly a priority after letting Geno Stone walk and inking Cook to a big deal for the position.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m\u00a0not going to say that anybody was the cause of our defensive fall this year.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0not going to call out any of our players on that,” Tobin said at the 2026 NFL Combine. “The group has to play better as a whole. What we like in safeties is what everyone likes in safeties. You want instinctive guys who see the big picture. They have to have speed to cover. If they can cover in man, that really opens up a lot of opportunities for you. They have to be willing to tackle in the box. They have to be a good open-field tackler. The more space you create with those guys, the tougher the tackles get. And there are no safeties in the NFL that\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0miss tackles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“You just want to limit those exposures to where they have the big gap to make up.\u00a0But\u00a0space causes missed tackles more than anything.\u00a0So spacing is important. That plays into some of the instincts and so forth that we really want to see in that position group.\u00a0But\u00a0those\u00a0really factor in\u00a0every position on defense.\u00a0Defense is reacting to what the offense does. They\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0get to dictate all the time. And\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0gotta see it, react to it, and play fast.”<\/p>\n

Check out the full prospect\u00a0fit list from Bowen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign Up For Our DAILY Newsletter for More Free Coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals Delivered to You Directly<\/a><\/p>\n

For more on the Bengals,\u00a0subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon. Make sure you\u00a0bookmark BengalsTalk.com\u00a0for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!\u00a0We’re\u00a0a one-stop shop for all things Cincinnati Bengals! Join the\u00a063,000+ Bengals fans who subscribe to us on YouTube.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN’s\u00a0Matt Bowen\u00a0tied 20 top draft prospects to their best fits for the 2026 cycle, and one of\u00a0Cincinnati’s\u00a0most popular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-847491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116330458739622973","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847491","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=847491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}