INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caleb Downs and Kenyon Sadiq played it cool Thursday at the NFL's annual scouting combine.
Rather than brag about sitting atop their respective positional rankings — safety and tight end — for April's NFL draft, the two All-Americans spoke confidently about simply what they could add next fall.
At this stage, there's no real debate about where Downs and Sadiq stand. The only real question is how long they'll be waiting on draft night
to see where they end up, largely because of the league's tendency to undervalue both positions.
“I don’t know how other teams see it. Frankly, we don’t care how other teams see it," said Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta, who has spent two recent first-round picks on safeties — Kyle Hamilton at No. 14 in 2022 and Malaki Starks at No. 27 last year. “We didn’t go into the 2022 draft thinking Kyle Hamilton was going to be the best player available when we picked, and he happened to be the best player available, and thank God he was.”
Hamilton responded by quickly establishing himself as one of the league's most gifted playmakers, a group many scouts expect Downs to join soon after he's spent the past three years starring at two of college football's powerhouses: Alabama and Ohio State.
The three-year starter made nearly 250 tackles during his career, picked off six passes, forced three fumbles and recovered one, making anyone who dared to challenge him in the middle of the field pay a steep price.
How good is he?
"One of my favorite all-time players,” former Alabama coach Nick Saban once said on ESPN's College GameDay. “Absolutely, one of my favorites. As a freshman, the maturity that he showed, the preparation, the way he performed, I loved the guy. He’s a great person.”
He was equally impressive at Ohio State where teammates raved about the instant impact he made on their 2024 national championship team and the continued impact he made in 2025 when Ohio State returned to the playoffs as the 2025 Big Ten runner-up.
Some teammates who also were invited to Indianapolis this week believe he just might be the best defensive player in the draft.
Still, Downs is more concerned about what he does in the pros than where he's drafted.
“I feel like my mind really puts me above a lot of people in terms of how I process the game and play with instincts. I feel like that's what makes me special,” he said before explaining what traits he brings. “You're getting a really talented player, a smart player who can make an impact on the field and in the facility to make a culture change.”
Sadiq could help some NFL team change directions, too.
Listed at 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, the former Oregon star hopes to dazzle scouts when he runs the 40-yard dash Friday night, a rarity for a projected first-round selection. His combination of size, speed and athleticism could create the kind of matchup problems pro teams crave and he insists he wants to become better at both route-running and run-blocking.
It's everything an NFL executive wants to hear, and it could lead to Sadiq becoming the second straight Idaho native to be the first tight end selected. Colston Loveland went 10th overall to Chicago in 2025.
But neither Sadiq nor Downs are deterred by any projections. Nope, they're each more eager to prove themselves this fall.
“There’s been more credit going to tight ends, and you see the market being reset by guys every year, so, I think the value has definitely gone up,” he said. “It creates a lot of mismatches on the defensive side, whether they’re nickel or base or whatever it is. So, I think if you have a great tight end or a couple great tight ends, it really helps out your offense.”
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