Caleb
Ransaw.
Caleb
Ransaw.
Tulane· 5'11"· 197 lb· 4.33s 40
"A physical, decisive defender who excels playing forward and blowing up screens, his modest coverage production and tightness from off alignments pushed him into a hybrid nickel/box safety role."Pre-draft read
Ransaw is a hybrid nickel/safety who lived in the box and the slot at Tulane, where the staff deployed him as the "spear" — asked to trigger downhill, fit the run from depth and tackle in space. His value starts with acceleration to contact: he diagnoses quickly, takes clean pursuit angles and arrives with force, finishing as a reliable wrap tackler instead of a launcher.
In coverage he is at his best with the ball in front of him, carrying tight ends and backs from zone, and far less refined when asked to mirror separators off a static press look. The traits are loud — 4.33 speed, a 40-inch vertical — showing up as recovery burst and range on crossers. The signature is spatial awareness: he plays the geometry of the field.
Split-safety, match-heavy defense (Quarters/Cover-6) that plays a true three-safety sub package and lets a hybrid defender play forward.
Year 1: third safety and core special teams contributor, on the field in big-nickel looks against 12 personnel. Ceiling: full-time starting strong safety who covers tight ends and plays the run like an extra linebacker.
A single-high, press-man defense that asks its nickel to travel with slot separators on an island every week, or a static two-deep team that keeps its safeties 15 yards off the ball and never lets him trigger.
The conversion from college nickel to NFL safety is the whole projection: the deeper he plays, the less his best trait matters.
Caleb Ransaw | Defensive Back | 2024 / 2023 Highlights | 2025 NFL Draft
Full college reel: run fits from the slot, downhill triggers and open-field tackling at Tulane and Troy.
Tulane DB Caleb Ransaw at Pro Day Tuesday
Pro day workout showing the movement skills behind the 4.33 forty and 40-inch vertical.
Tulane DB Caleb Ransaw and OL Josh Remetich - Nov. 5, 2024
In-season availability from his lone Tulane year, framing his role in the Green Wave defense.
A three-year Troy defender who transferred to Tulane for his final season, Ransaw is a positionless secondary piece rather than a traditional corner or a traditional safety. He was listed as a cornerback entering the draft but spent 2024 playing nickel and hybrid box roles, and the tape identity is consistent across both stops: physical, decisive, comfortable playing near the line of scrimmage.
The production reads modest on paper — 115 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, one interception and eight pass breakups over 47 career games — because his college roles were about occupying space rather than chasing volume. The signature reps are run fits from the slot, screens blown up before they start and blitz timing off the edge of the formation. The flags were coverage-specific: limited ball production, tightness turning and running from off alignments, and a body of work that never asked him to travel with an outside receiver.
Boards had him as a Day 2 to early-Day 3 defensive back whose Combine testing pushed him up. Jacksonville traded into the third round for him and immediately labeled him a safety, betting that the athletic profile plus the tackling reliability would produce a sub-package starter with special teams value. At 88 it was a traits-and-role bet, not a production bet.
- 01
Downhill trigger
Reads run/pass keys quickly from the slot and from depth, then closes on the football with force and rarely takes a false step.
- 02
Reliable tackler in space
Breaks down under control in the open field, wraps through contact and does not give up the extra yards that plague hybrid defenders.
- 03
Explosive athletic profile
A 4.33 forty and a 40-inch vertical at 197 pounds give him recovery speed on crossers and the burst to shrink throwing windows late.
- 04
Positional versatility
Logged real snaps at nickel, box safety and outside corner across Troy and Tulane, which makes him easy to move within a sub package.
- 05
Special teams value
Speed, physicality and coverage-unit instincts project him as a Day 1 core four contributor before the defensive role is defined.
- 01
Man coverage refinement
Gets grabby and late out of transition against separators, and his footwork off press can be inconsistent rep to rep.
- 02
Ball production
One interception and eight pass breakups in four seasons; he locates the receiver more naturally than he locates the football.
- 03
Role definition
Played a specialized spear role in 2024 rather than a clean corner or safety job, so his NFL position was still an open question at the pick.
- 04
Durability questions
A sophomore concussion history at Troy and a non-contact foot injury as a rookie put early mileage on the medical file.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.33sp50
- Vertical
- 40inp50
- Broad jump
- 129inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 16repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Troy | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Troy | 11 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2023 | Troy | 14 | 50 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | Tulane | 12 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Career | — | 47 | 107 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Undersized nickel-to-safety convert who earns snaps through instincts, run support and sub-package flexibility.
Same hybrid box/slot identity and downhill tackling, with the athletic testing to justify a full-time role.
Fast, physical DB whose value never moves past special teams because the coverage role never gets defined.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Missed his entire 2025 rookie season on injured reserve (foot surgery); activated February 2026 with no NFL defensive snaps to date.
Ransaw never made it to a regular-season snap in year one. A non-contact foot injury during 2025 training camp put him in a boot, the follow-up exam forced surgery, and Jacksonville placed him on injured reserve on August 26 without a return designation — a full redshirt rookie season, zero games, zero defensive snaps. The Jaguars activated him off IR on February 15, 2026, and he returned to the field in the 2026 offseason program listed as a safety, the position James Gladstone projected for him on draft night.
Judging the pick is premature by design. There is no NFL tape to grade, only a lost year and a converted role that still has to be proven against pro receivers and pro tight ends. What is fair to say is that the bet has not started paying, and the clock on a third-round rookie contract does not stop for injury: he enters 2026 essentially as a first-year player competing for the sub-package and special teams snaps he was drafted to take in 2025. The traits that made him a top-90 pick are intact; everything else is unwritten.