Saturday Prospect Spotlight: If the Browns Do Happen To Go Defense

The Browns need as much help as they can on offense, but if they do go defense this is the one.

(Photo Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics)

It’s “Rivalry Week,” folks. There are few weeks better across the entire football calendar than Week 14 in college football. We get everything we could want with The Game, The Iron Bowl, Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee, and even the lower-profile matchups that aren’t hitting as hard this year like Clemson vs. South Carolina and Florida vs. Florida State. The matchups are some of the best across the board, and we get to see those good old-fashioned hatred games. You love to see it. I’ll be glued to the couch as much as possible today.

Reminder: The Browns have TWO first round picks coming in this year's NFL Draft, each Saturday we will highlight a player worth watching with the Browns’ prospect preferences in mind! Obviously we will focus on the highest-ranked prospects this year because the Browns could have a wide range of outcomes for their pick, but we will expand beyond that scope at times.

It will be impossible to think about the 2026 Cleveland Browns without thinking about who their next quarterback selection could be so that will be a consistent theme of these spotlights throughout the year, but I promise we will branch out in other ways as well.

I thought for today’s focus, we would stick with the best rivalry in all of sports and focus on the one prospect from Ohio State I do think could be a sneaky selection for the Browns. If the Jacksonville selection keeps slipping or if the Browns win too many games the rest of the way and have a later pick than we anticipated then they get in the range of Caleb Downs, one of the best defensive prospects in the class.

History

Downs grew up in Hoschton, Georgia, and attended Mill Creek High School, where he was a standout in football, basketball, and baseball. He thrived most prominently in football, earning All-American honors as a senior and ranking as the No. 1 safety prospect in his class and the No. 9 overall prospect nationally. He was also named the USA Today Defensive Player of the Year.

He chose Alabama over Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Ohio State, where he was particularly close to committing. As a true freshman, he was a Freshman All-American, SEC Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-SEC, and Second-Team All-American. After Nick Saban’s retirement, Downs transferred to Ohio State — his runner-up choice during recruitment — where he went on to earn First-Team All-Big Ten honors, Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year in 2024, and unanimous All-American status.

Downs’ brother, Josh Downs, starred at North Carolina and currently plays for the Indianapolis Colts.

(Photo Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics)

Stats

2023 (Alabama): 85 tackles, 30 STOP tackles, 2 interceptions, 3 pass-breakups

2024: 70 tackles, 31 STOP tackles, 2 interceptions, 3 pass-breakups

2025: 42 tackles, 27 STOP tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 pass-breakups

Scouting Report