Ethan Downs has somewhat gone unnoticed as a prospect during his time as a starter at Oklahoma, but how does his full NFL scouting report look?
Overview, Film Analysis, And 2025 Scouting Report Of Oklahoma EDGE Ethan Downs
Measurables:
- 6’4”
- 265 lbs
Player Background:
A four-star edge rusher recruit out of Weatherford HS, Oklahoma native Ethan Downs stayed in-state and committed to the Sooners. His four-star rank was the consensus among recruiting sites, and he placed among the Top-150 prospects in the 2021 class. He worked himself onto the field early and often once he got to OU, playing in all 13 games his freshman season. He made 14 total tackles, three for loss, a half-sack, and forced a fumble.
2022 started his reign as a starter on the Sooners’ defensive line, starting every game of the season. Downs led the team with 4.5 sacks, improved his TFL total to 13.5, and broke up three passes. His 2023 was almost identical, matching his sack total and putting up another 6.5 TFLs, also intercepting his first pass. He missed just one game in 202 due to an injury, picking up three sacks, nine TFLs, and a forced fumble.
Accolades:
- All-Big 12 Second Team (2022)
- All-Big 12 Second Team (2023)
Strengths/Pros:
Everything about Downs is quick and immediately violent. He flies out of his stance and transitions into a downfield bull rusher in a flash. There will be some snaps where his get-off is so quick that he splits gaps in the OL before they can even react. He’s versatile in initial alignments, working into the interior at points, and showing comfort in multiple stances. His bull rush is elite when he gets early leverage with his hands, moving his legs extremely fast and ripping blockers back into the backfield.
He showcases great upper-body strength, throwing blockers around and rotating through them with ferocity. Downs’ hands are sharp, and he keeps his arms tearing through tackles early, especially on screen plays. He holds his ground well when asked to play contain on the edge, expanding his impact zone and re-directing plays almost entirely by himself. His sub-4.70-second 40-yard dash is displayed when closing out rushers, shrinking gaps swiftly, and extending himself well to finish off tackles.
Weaknesses/Cons:
Functionally, Downs must generate exponentially more strength from his lower body. His reliance on rotational upper-body movements, both as a pass rusher and run defender, will produce much less success at the NFL level against bigger and stronger tackles. He drives his legs quickly, but much of his pass-rushing wins come because of simply using them as placeholders while his upper body does the work.
This issue at the collegiate level comes back to bite him most often in his tendency to fail to fully finish his wins. Downs will win off the snap and gain a step on the OL, but his drive will get stopped before he can clear and get to the QB. This is most evident in his lower sack totals, despite working into the backfield at a high level. His timing of exterior rushes also needs work, mistiming them too often and gets caught off-balance. He also needs to increase his bag of pass-rush moves as a whole, having to rotate too far across the line because of initial losses.
Potential Team Fits:
NFL Projection:
Downs, at least from his film study, seems like a prime candidate to take a big statistical jump from college to the NFL. His tape offered much more than his late Day 3 projection suggests. Strength training will be a major part of his development at the next level, but he has the tools to develop into a nice defensive chess piece, and rather quickly. It’s rare that a decorated starter at a big school doesn’t receive much draft hype, and he has the foundation to become an impact player and force scouts to re-evaluate him down the line.
Prospect Grade:
- Early 4th Round
Film Exposures:
- 2024 vs. Texas
- 2024 vs. South Carolina
- 2024 vs. Alabama
Main Photo: Kirby Lee – Imagn Images
