New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh has a notable interest in the two NFL draft prospects from the Ohio State Buckeyes, safety Caleb Downs and linebacker/nickel Sonny Styles, who typically receive less attention than their teammates, receiver Carnell Tate, and EDGE rusher/linebacker Arvell Reese, among the teams at the top of the draft board.
With Big Blue owning the No. 5 pick, it's unclear if the latter two will be on the board still when the Giants are on the clock. As The New York Daily News' Pat Leonard reports, though, that interest from Harbaugh in Downs and Styles is intentional, draft stock be damned.
"Chris Mara and John Harbaugh led a significant contingent of Giants brass into Ohio State’s pro day on Wednesday to see four possible top-10 picks in April’s NFL Draft," Leonard prefaced before saying, "What stuck out most, even with edge rusher Arvell Reese and wide receiver Carnell Tate doing on-field drills, were Harbaugh’s interactions with inside linebacker Sonny Styles and safety Caleb Downs.
"Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens teams prioritized safeties and inside linebackers to anchor his defenses. The Giants’ defense badly needs playmakers who can stop the run and fortify a middle of the field that got gashed for a league-worst 5.3 yards per carry last season.
"Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens teams prioritized safeties and inside linebackers to anchor his defenses. The Giants’ defense badly needs playmakers who can stop the run and fortify a middle of the field that got gashed for a league-worst 5.3 yards per carry last season."
Giants will take a Buckeye if they make sense for their future
Leonard concluded his report by saying, "It’s undoubtedly possible that Harbaugh was envisioning one of these Ohio State standouts playing in Giant blue soon." Harbaugh is a man who understands culture drives a locker room, and he is familiar with longtime NFL coach Matt Patricia, who oversaw the Buckeyes' historic defensive effort in 2025.
Ohio State gave up 9.3 points and 219.1 yards per game this past fall. Anyone coming from that locker room on the defensive side of the ball has intangible values that most from other schools don't have.
Ryan Day has essentially what amounts to an NFL staff. While that's truer now in 2026 with two coordinators with NFL head coaching experience (Patricia, Arthur Smith), it was also true in 2025 when Brian Hartline was calling plays. He wasn't great at game-planning, but Hartline found multiple current NFL WR1s, including Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, and Emeka Egbuka, to Columbus.
NYG would be wise to get guys from OSU. Believe it or not, Big Blue hasn't drafted a Buckeye since 2016.
Sounds like Harbaugh is finally getting the Giants with the program.