You'd be hard-pressed to find a Dallas Cowboys fan who thought that drafting Caleb Downs was in the realm of possibility. Any hope vanished when the New York Giants acquired the No. 10 overall pick by trading Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Surely, John Harbaugh wouldn't pass on Downs twice. Not the coach who ended Kyle Hamilton's slide in the 2023 draft. Not with how many holes the Giants have in their secondary. As it turns out, nobody knows anything.
Sure enough, Giants fans are up in arms that the team did not draft Downs, opting for Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese at No. 5 before taking Miami offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa at No. 10.
Coping is part of being a fan, and our friend Matthew Sidney of GMen HQ has resorted to critiquing an objectively awesome quote from Downs' appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas when he said he got "bored" in college due to fluctuating competition.
"Talk about a tone-deaf comment for a rookie to make before he's taken a single NFL practice rep. The 21-year-old basically told the world that he checked out mentally when the talent across from him didn't move the needle or when his dominant teammates were doing all the heavy lifting in the trenches.
Harbs has to feel vindicated because he chose the prospect who wants to hit everything that moves over the player who admits he loses interest when the game gets too easy. The NFL is a league where nobody gets bored, and every single week features elite talent that will punish even a split second of mental laziness or lack of focus."
The Giants will be kicking themselves for letting the Dallas Cowboys draft Caleb Downs
For those who need a refresher, here's Downs' quote:
"Yeah, I'll honestly say yes. The ball not coming your way. Maybe the talent may not be as good that week. You don't always play high-level talent every week in college, so that's something you have to get used to.
Sometimes those games, they can get boring just because the fact of you play a team that doesn't have as good of an offensive line, your D-line will pretty much make all the tackles. There wouldn't really be much to do those games. So, just get bored of not being in the action."
Sidney’s reaction is the beauty of the NFC East rivalry. For 29 other fanbases, Downs admitting that not every second of his college career was exhilarating is a nothing-burger. But for Giants, Eagles, and Commanders fans? They'll turn that into a character flaw and a multi-tweet thread before he even hangs up the phone.
Sidney would sound a little less ridiculous if Downs had any real character or maturity concerns. The Giants expert will hate hearing that Downs was an instant leader as a freshman at Alabama and the floor general of an Ohio State defense that -- as Sidney so eloquently noted -- has produced 15 draft picks in the last two years.
Tone deaf? More like bored from being the smartest player on the field for a juggernaut. He's a true alpha. What's he supposed to do, change positions for a challenge? It’s not like he was in the secondary hosting a cookout. Give any of Downs’ teammates truth serum and a few would admit they were bored, too. That defense was unfair.
And as far as boredom goes, that's exactly what the Cowboys-Giants rivalry has become. Dating back to 2017, Dallas has won 16 of 18 against New York. We get it, OK: When the scoreboard isn’t on your side for nearly a decade, you start inventing wins elsewhere.
To be fair to Sidney, it’s his job to sell passing on Downs. Just like we can nitpick Mauigoa, arguably the cleanest offensive line prospect in the 2026 class, he can spin a single quote into validation for the Giants.
Was his argument ridiculous? Perhaps. But he’s the only one brave enough to take a shot at Downs since last Thursday.
That has our respect.
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