The NFL Draft kicks off with its opening round tonight in Kansas City, so Rivals is taking a look back at its projected first-round picks when they were high school prospects. We move on to our projected No. 31 – North Carolina wide receiver Josh Downs, who was a four-star prospect in the 2020 class.
Downs makes it 18 projected first-round picks that are Rivals Camp Series alums.
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NFL DRAFT REWIND: No. 1 Bryce Young | No. 2 CJ Stroud | No. 3 Will Anderson | No. 4 Will Levis | No. 5 Tyree Wilson | No. 6 Jalen Carter | No. 7 Anthony Richardson | No. 8 Nolan Smith | No. 9 Peter Skoronski | No. 10 Christian Gonzalez | No. 11 Darnell Wright | No. 12 Jaxon Smith-NJigba | No. 13 Paris Johnson Jr. | No. 14 Broderick Jones | No. 15 Quentin Johnston | No. 16 Devon Witherspoon | No. 17 Joey Porter, Jr. | No. 18 Myles Murphy | No. 19 Anton Harrison | No. 20 Luka Van Ness | No. 21 Zay Flowers | No. 22 Deonte Banks | No. 23 Jordan Addison | No. 24 Cam Smith | No. 25 Brian Branch | No. 26 Bijan Robinson | No. 27 Jack Campbell | No. 28 Michael Mayer | No. 29 Bryan Bresee | No. 30 O’Cyrus Torrence
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No. 31: WR Josh Downs, North Carolina
Where they were ranked: The Suwanee (Ga.) North Gwinnett standout was a high four-star receiver who finished ninth in the position rankings, ninth in the Georgia state rankings and No. 53 overall.
Recruitment: Downs committed to North Carolina in February of his junior year and stuck with the Tar Heels although many programs made a serious run at him including Penn State and Georgia Tech. The four-star receiver also looked seriously at South Carolina and Tennessee but stuck with the Tar Heels.
Biggest question: There’s no getting around his size. It can be a tremendous asset but he has a tiny catch radius and he won’t be much of a blocker in the NFL.
Memories: I will never forget just how impressive Downs was at the Rivals Five-Star Challenge in Atlanta, not from a size or physical standpoint but he was so quick, so fast and so dynamic through his routes and with the ball in his hands.
There was just a ‘wow’ factor there.
Yes, Downs is small which was always at least a little bit of concern but when he flew through the gauntlet and caught the ball so easily and then accelerated out of that drill, the four-star looked like a really special player.
On the slow turf of Mercedes-Benz, Downs ran 4.46 seconds in the 40-yard dash contest and I believe only Kelee Ringo ran a faster time.
Downs was excellent in 1-on-1s, so explosive and so dynamic that cornerbacks were just trying to hang on as the four-star blazed down the field. And he had such exceptional and reliable hands that he could have pushed even higher than ninth at the position.
It’s also important to note that Downs was super productive the last two seasons in Chapel Hill as he had 195 catches for 2,364 yards and 19 touchdowns during that stretch. If Kansas City is looking for an elite playmaker for Patrick Mahomes, Downs would make sense.
