{"id":852384,"date":"2026-04-04T01:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/852384\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T01:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:20:15","slug":"caleb-downs-is-still-perfect-bengals-fit-expert-breaks-it-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/852384\/","title":{"rendered":"Caleb Downs is still perfect Bengals fit: Expert breaks it down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>April 3, 2026, 7:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><a href=\"\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> fans have long called Caleb Downs the \u201cperfect\u201d prospect for the team in the NFL draft, among other kind things.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">It wasn\u2019t just the loud portion of the fanbase that likes Ohio State, either. Safety has been a serious problem for the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/cincinnati-bengals\/327\" data-autotag=\"6d3e484d-5133-4c06-a871-967f8646390b\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Bengals<\/a> since Jessie Bates walked out the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Bryan Cook is in town now to start alongside Jordan Battle, but that doesn\u2019t take Downs off the board, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">ESPN\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=83224X1595658&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fnfl%2Fdraft2026%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F48346957%2F2026-nfl-draft-favorite-team-fits-20-top-prospects-reese-love-simpson&amp;xcust=SC1-SBEN&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fbengalswire.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fnfl%2Fbengals%2F2026%2F04%2F03%2Fcaleb-downs-perfect-bengals-fit-expert-breakdown%2F89457813007%2F\" data-v-afl=\"\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matt Bowen<\/a> explained why the Bengals are still his favorite team fit for Downs:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cUnder coordinator Al Golden, Downs would be an interchangeable safety. He could rotate low in single-high zone, while playing over the top from depth. Plus, with Downs&#8217; ability to create disruption near 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 Cincinnati&#8217;s defense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Need a news break? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (play)|e|auto spike click:4|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/play.usatoday.com\/?itm_source=SPIKE&amp;itm_campaign=PLAYSPIKE&amp;itm_medium=ONSITE\">Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">It\u2019s an underrated storyline: The Bengals signing Cook might\u2019ve upped the chances they take Downs. They have a serious problem at slot corner right now and no good way to fix it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Maybe Downs\u2019 long-term spot would be at safety, but the fact he can cover all sorts of problems across different packages is a big deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Of course, this is all assuming Downs even makes it to the Bengals\u2019 pick at No. 10. But he\u2019s by far still one of the very best possible outcomes for the rebuilding defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 3, 2026, 7:00 p.m. ET Cincinnati Bengals fans have long called Caleb Downs the \u201cperfect\u201d prospect for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[95878,228,227,256,2296,7,6,13078,95905,95907,95882,95930,104162,95913,95892,101504,99144,95896,95888,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-852384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-bengals","10":"tag-cincinnati","11":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","12":"tag-cincinnatibengals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflbengals","16":"tag-sstsnbengals","17":"tag-tagal-golden","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","20":"tag-tagbryan-cook","21":"tag-tagcincinnati-bengals","22":"tag-tagespn-inc","23":"tag-tagjessie-bates-iii","24":"tag-tagjordan-battle","25":"tag-tagnational-sports","26":"tag-tagnfl","27":"tag-tagoverall-positive","28":"tag-tagsports-news","29":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116343815842388421","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852384","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=852384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}