Former NFL doctor suggests viral Caleb Downs injury rumor 'a game of telephone'

Former NFL team physician and content creator Dr. David Chao weighed in on the speculation surrounding Caleb Downs after a viral report revealed NFL doctors raised “red flags” with the former Ohio State safety’s medical evaluation at this week’s NFL Combine. The “report,” which originated from a Substack post from Daft on Draft‘s Cory Kinnan, suggested NFL doctors allegedly flagged Downs with a “partially torn meniscus” and a “potentially degenerative ACL” during the Combine’s intensive medical testing last week in Indianapolis.

That “news” has faced plenty of pushback this week, including from ESPN’s Pat McAfee, who suggested it could be normal “smoke and mirrors” that often come out of the Combine due to teams wishing to influence where a player is ultimately selected. For his part, Chao chopped the Downs report to a “game of telephone” due to some individuals not fully understanding what is in the actual medical report.

“First of all, … yes, there was an issue on his medical. How bad the issue may not be fully elucidated,” Chao, who goes by the handle @ProFootballDoc on X/Twitter, posted Tuesday afternoon. “I’m not saying that reporter is lying, I’m not saying that scout was feeding misinformation to the reporter. What I am saying is that there’s a game of telephone that happens and the understanding of what it is may not be what it is. I could easily see a situation where there’s an issue raised, a flag raised about Caleb Downs or another player and then how it gets translated.

On Caleb Downs: A medical red flag at the Combine doesn’t always mean what it sounds like publicly. There’s often a game of telephone between doctors, scouts, and reporters. pic.twitter.com/KcjCf1f0Qa

— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) March 3, 2026

“Let me tell you something, in my time in the NFL, I’ve been to over 20 combines (and) there’s about 330 athletes there,” he continued, “(and) there aren’t three that are ruled out by me or other doctors as not-draftable. Usually that number is one or zero that are just not draftable.”

Pat McAfee shoots down speculation about potential Caleb Downs injury from NFL Combine

ESPN firebrand Pat McAfee addressed the Downs rumor on Tuesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show and suggested it could just be part of the normal “smoke and mirrors” misinformation that often emerges during the Combine, especially from teams hoping a premier prospect may to fall to them as a result.

“Everything right now is smoke and mirrors when it comes to prospects, especially really good prospects. You never know what’s real and what isn’t real,” McAfee began Tuesday. “… Multiple NFL teams have told us there is nothing in the medical (report) that would deter us from bringing Caleb Downs in, especially with how great a football player he is. It feels like part of this entire process — and who knows what’s real and what isn’t. But we do know this made its run on the internet.

“… But every NFL team we talked to — there wasn’t one that said anything was wrong (with Downs),” McAfee continued. “And we talked to multiple teams. So, this feels like this is all bullshit. But this is kind of the name of the game this time (of year), because that might be a team that likes him the most putting that out there actually hoping he will fall a little bit (in the draft).”

Downs is a true NFL legacy whose older brother, Josh, is an Indianapolis Colts receiver and whose father, Gary, played played seven seasons in the NFL in the mid-to-late 1990s. The 6-foot safety is widely considered among the Top 5 players in the entire 2026 draft class, and has been a premier talent since high school, when the former Five-Star Plus+ prospect signed with Alabama as the No. 5 overall player in the 2023 recruiting cycle out of Georgia, according to the Rival Industry Rankings.