The night of Nov. 23 was full of surprises for Oklahoma defensive end Ethan Downs.
Before the Sooners’ 24-3 thumping of Alabama as a 13½-point home underdog (Surprise No. 3), Downs was voted as one of the recipients for the Bob Kalsu Award (Surprise No. 1) and was greeted by Kalsu’s family on the field (Surprise No. 2).
The award connects Downs to the Buffalo Bills regardless of what happens in next month’s NFL draft.
Kalsu was an eighth-round pick by the Bills in 1968 and started nine of his 14 games at right guard. After the season, to satisfy his ROTC obligation, he joined the Army as a second lieutenant and arrived in South Vietnam in 1969.
Kalsu was killed in action by mortar fire on July 21, 1970, the only professional athlete to die in combat in Vietnam, according to William Nack’s incredible 2001 Sports Illustrated cover story. Kalsu was 25 years old. He was named to the Bills’ Wall of Fame in 2000 and the high school football stadium and post office in his hometown of Del City, Oklahoma, bear his name.
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Before Alabama-Oklahoma game, Downs and offensive lineman Troy Everett were recognized on the field. The bonus for Downs was being joined on the field by six members of the Kalsu family – his son, Bob Jr., (born two days after his father died), his wife Jenny and their kids, McKenzie, Madison, Robert and Mia.
“It was a really cool experience to be on the field for an award like that and to see the family and shake their hands,” Downs said at last week’s scouting combine. “I’m thankful I was awarded such an honor.”
Oklahoma Auburn Football (copy)
Oklahoma defensive end Ethan Downs tries to tackle Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne in a game last year. Butch Dill, Associated Press
The Bob Kalsu Award was created in 2001 by then-Sooners coach Bob Stoops. In a vote of the coaching staff, the winner is a player who, according to the school, “personifies Kalsu’s spirit of leadership, serving as a motivator and role model for his teammates.”
Among the recipients have been former or current NFL players Chris Chester, Blake Bell, Daryl Williams, Baker Mayfield, Orlando Brown and Ben Powers.
Last season challenged Downs to be a leader. The Sooners started 4-1 but lost consecutive games to Texas, South Carolina and Ole Miss by a combined 69 points. The win over Alabama made Oklahoma bowl-eligible, and the Sooners finished 6-7.
On the field, the 270-pound Downs played 51 games for the Sooners and had 110 tackles, including 12½ sacks, and had a solid combine workout. He led all defensive linemen with 32 bench-press reps of the 225-pound bar, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.69 seconds (10th best) and showed explosiveness with a 1.62-second 10-yard split (sixth best).
I asked Downs to describe his approach to leadership.
“I would like to say I’m multiple in how I approach leadership,” he said. “I like to be very personal with the players and even the coaches and just find what motivates people intrinsically and tap into that and learn some of their history and what drives them, so whenever there is a low moment or they’re in a funk and have low energy, I can approach them privately and say, ‘Hey, remember why you do this,’ and I can point (things) out directly because I know them and we’ve built up a relationship.
“We had a hard season (in 2024) and I had a very similar season my sophomore year (6-7 record), and so I had the experience of what went wrong and what a messed-up locker room looked like. When there was a moment approaching that (in 2024), I had a moment to stand before the whole team, coaches included, in our meeting room and say, ‘Hey, let’s get our mind right. We’ve been down this road before. Let’s not do that again.’ ”
Impressive stuff, the kind of impressive stuff that should make him attractive to NFL teams.
Quick kicks
1. Allen’s next contract. The Bills are obviously aware that Josh Allen’s average salary of $43 million ranks 14th in the NFL among quarterbacks. His deal runs through 2028, but an MVP season should call for an adjustment, a fancy word for “raise.”
Last July, I asked J.I. Halsell, executive vice president for client compensation at 3 Strand Sports & Entertainment and a former contract analyst for the Washington Commanders, for help in projecting Allen’s next deal. He came back with a three-year, $204 million deal ($68 million average). That number continues to make sense.
Dallas’ Dak Prescott is the current leader with a $60 million average.
2. Player empowerment. Is the NFL becoming like the NBA, in terms of players demanding their way out of town? Not quite, but pass rusher Myles Garrett (Cleveland) and receiver DK Metcalf (Seattle) wanting to be traded with players like pass rusher Trey Hendrickson (Cincinnati), receiver Cooper Kupp (Los Angeles Rams) and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen (Washington) receiving permission to find a trade is a fun development.
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Hendrickson, 31 in December, should generate a ton of interest and get a new contract as a part of a trade. He has 35 sacks in the last two years and 77 career sacks in 110 games.
3. Caldwell’s proudest pick. One item that didn’t make my story on Philadelphia Eagles senior personnel executive (and Buffalo-area native) Dave Caldwell was the draft pick he was proudest of during his time as the Jacksonville Jaguars general manager from 2013-20. That was Penn State receiver Allen Robinson in the second round of the 2014 draft.
“We were targeting Allen (at No. 39) thinking Marquise (Lee, another receiver) would be gone at that time,” Caldwell said.
Lee, though, was still on the board, and the Jaguars selected him. Caldwell then traded Nos. 70 and 150 to move up nine spots to draft Robinson.
“We felt like we could get a 2-for-1 at receiver and we were able to do that,” Caldwell said.
Robinson was headed toward being a long-term Jaguars player until he tore his ACL in the 2017 opener at Houston.
4. McDuffie staying put. Hat tip to Buffalo native and Green Bay Packers linebacker Isaiah McDuffie (Bennett High School) for signing a two-year, $8 million contract this week instead of entering free agency. McDuffie started all 18 regular-season and playoff games in 2024 and had 105 tackles. His signing bonus is $2.55 million.
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