I watched four games of Caleb Banks — the 2024 matchups against Georgia and LSU, and the 2025 games against LSU and Tennessee. That’s four games against strong competition with plenty of current and future NFL talent across the line. Banks missed most of the 2025 season. The LSU 2025 game was when he got injured, and the Tennessee 2025 game was his first game back after about a 10-week layoff (second to last game of the year). He looked a little sluggish against Tennessee, but that felt like rust more than anything else. He had solid performances against Georgia (2024) and Tennessee (2025), and he was very dynamic in both LSU games. The biggest thing I noticed was real improvement from 2024 to 2025 in his pass-rush approach. In 2024, if his first move didn’t win, the rep often died. In the 2025 LSU game, he was stacking second and third moves and working through a sequence. That’s a major developmental step. Overall, I think Banks is really good. Top-15 worthy in my opinion because he can defend the run and rush the passer.
Run Defense: Banks has strong natural traits. His punches are violent and jolt offensive linemen. He can lock out, stack, and shed effectively. He has quick twitch and can shoot gaps when opportunities present themselves. He can handle double teams and uses a hip drop (dropping his inside hip/knee to anchor) to absorb force. He’s a good run defender, though I wouldn’t call him elite yet. There are three areas that need work: First, pad level. He consistently plays high. I’d put his pad level around a 5 out of 10. His ankle and hip flexibility are solid, but his knee bend isn’t great. He took a helmet to the stomach at the goal line, got displaced on a few snaps, and even got pancaked against LSU in 2025 — all tied to playing high. Second, tackling. He missed four tackles across the four games. He needs to finish better one-on-one in the hole. Third, disengagement timing. While he can stack and fully extend well, he can sometimes be slow shedding once he’s in that stack position. That said, he’s still good against the run. He holds his ground well, maintains gap integrity most of the time, and has a lot of natural strength. He reminds me of how Logan Paulsen describes Javon Kinlaw — tremendous natural strength but pad level inconsistencies. He’s also very versatile. He can line up anywhere from 0 out to 5 technique.
Pass Rush: This is where the real growth showed up. In 2024, he had moves. In 2025, he had a plan. That’s a big difference. In 2025, you saw him stack moves — inside-out, outside-in, setting up oversets. He used club-rip, arm-over, chop-rip, hump move, forklift, long arm (speed to power), swim, and spin. The key difference was sequencing them rather than just throwing out a first move. When you combine that with his natural strength and quick twitch, he becomes a real problem. His hip and ankle flexibility are solid but not elite. He can reduce surface area and swivel his hips, and he can turn tight corners at times. I’d say his flexibility is slightly better than Lee Hunter’s, though still not elite. His pure speed-to-power is solid but not really his foundation. He’s more dangerous when working combinations. He also showed good awareness — sniffed out a screen against Georgia. He seemed to call his own number a couple times against LSU in 2024, including one where they got caught on a draw.
Overall: Banks is a pretty ideal modern defensive tackle — above average against the run and capable of legitimate pass-rush production. I wouldn’t take him at #7, but in a small trade down to around 13, he would absolutely be on my board. I don’t know that I’d lock him in at 13 no matter what, but he’d be worth the pick. In a larger trade down to around 21, he could actually represent good value. To me, he’s a high-floor, high-upside interior defender with real growth between 2024 and 2025.
I watched two videos of Banks. DaftonDraft did one video over the summer of him with the two games from 2024 and then did a second in December in 2025. Here is the first third or so of the video from December 2025 video....
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