After trading up one spot with the Miami Dolphins, the Dallas Cowboys selected Ohio State’s multifaceted All-American Safety, Caleb Downs.
Downs will now play in the NFC East, and one player not looking forward to playing against him again is the New York Giants’ wide receiver, Malik Nabers.
Caleb Downs-Malik Nabers Matchup
Last season, the Cowboys had one of the best offenses in the league, but their glaring weakness was their defense, which ranked the worst in PFSN’s NFL Defensive Impact Metric with an impact score of 62.1 and a letter grade of D-.
Last season, they gave up 30.1 points per game (32nd), 251.5 passing yards per game (32nd), 125.5 rushing yards per game (23rd), 59 touchdowns (31st), 35 sacks (22nd), and only 0.7 takeaways per game (30th).
The Cowboys needed a desperate upgrade at defense, and they’re making one with Downs.
In PFSN’s College Football Safety Impact Metric, Downs ranked as the 63rd best safety in college football with an impact score of 83.5 and a letter grade of B.
Across three seasons (Alabama and Ohio State), he racked up 257 combined tackles, 1.5 sacks, six interceptions, 12 passes defended, one fumble recovery, and three forced fumbles. He’s also a two-time All-American and the 2025 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
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Now, he’ll get to face off against one of the best receivers in the league twice a year, Nabers, and it doesn’t seem like the latter is looking forward to the matchup necessarily. On a draft show, Nabers said the following:
“I’d rather get him than play against him. I even told him, ‘Imma come and get you.’ I gotta play against this thing again. He’s good, he’s very good. We all got him number one, he’s very good.”
Malik Nabers’ reaction to the Cowboys trading up and drafting Caleb Downs 👀 pic.twitter.com/dgyuC2ocJ5
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 24, 2026
Even though Nabers missed almost the entirety of the 2025 season, he’s been one of the best wide receivers in the league since being drafted to the Giants.
In PFSN’s NFL Wide Receiver Impact Metric, he has an average impact score of 80.5 across two seasons (83.5 in 2024 and 77.5 in 2025).
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In 19 career games, he’s caught 127 receptions for 1475 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. Nabers is one of the Giants’ brightest spots, and imagine what he could do with another full year of production.
The Downs-Nabers matchup has the potential to be one of the best in the NFL, similar to that of Marshon Lattimore and Mike Evans while both were in the NFC South. However, given the respect Nabers showed Downs, it doesn’t seem this one will lead to physical altercations like those in the NFC South.
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