The New York Giants hired head coach John Harbaugh after his 18-season tenure as Baltimore Ravens head coach ended in January. When NFL free agency opened last week, Harbaugh targeted four of his former Ravens players, including safety Ar’Darius Washington.
According to ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., the Giants’ signing of Washington won’t stop them from coveting the highest-touted defensive back in the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23.
Kiper Jr. published his latest mock draft on Tuesday, and he projects New York to select former Ohio State safety Caleb Downs with the No. 5 overall pick.
“Downs is on another level,” Kiper Jr. wrote. “He’s a complete football player, and New York should have no hesitation in taking him here (the highest draft slot for a safety since Eric Berry in 2010). Putting him alongside Jevon Holland on the back end would help not only in creating turnovers (the Giants had 15 last season, 25th in the league) but also shoring up a very bad run defense.”
Downs’ draft stock has not been impacted by reports out of last month’s 2026 NFL Combine concerning his knee.
At the time, Cory Kinnan cited an anonymous NFC scout relaying that Downs “had a couple of issues flagged during his medical check” at the Combine.
“Nobody expected him to test this week anyway, so it flew a bit under the radar,” Kinnan wrote. “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.”
Kinnan also acknowledged that a draft-day drop was not anticipated for Downs, and “plenty of NFL players have been flagged with degenerative knees before, but have gone on to have successful NFL careers.”
Downs did just fine with his knee at the collegiate level. He played for Alabama as a freshman, led the SEC with 70 solo tackles, and then transferred to Ohio State for his sophomore and junior seasons. In 2024, Downs earned All-American honors as the Buckeyes won the national championship. Last season, he repeated as an All-American and was named 2025 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
Since 2022, the Giants have used a top-5 overall pick on defense. In 2022, they drafted defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux at No. 5 overall, and last April, they drafted edge rusher Abdul Carter at No. 3 overall.
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