Iowa’s success on the defensive side of the ball the last few seasons has been key to its success, and a key component of that has been defensive back Sebastian Castro.
After three seasons as a starter and two All-Big Ten nominations to his name, Castro looks to carry his high level of play into the pros as he prepares for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Sebastian Castro’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 5’11″
- Weight: 205 pounds
- Position: Defensive Back
- School: Iowa
- Current Year: Graduate Student
Scouting Report
Castro was a three-star recruit coming out of Harold L. Richards High School in Oak Lawn, Illinois, a suburb roughly 15 miles outside of Chicago. He was named first-team all-conference three years in a row, lettering as both a defensive back and a quarterback. He was a team captain his senior year and also participated in track in high school. A 2019 graduate, he committed to Iowa over offers from the likes of Minnesota, Syracuse, and Iowa State.
Castro wore a redshirt during the 2019 season and played only one game in 2020, not tallying any stats in Iowa’s blowout win over Michigan State. In 2021, Castro entered the defensive rotation, taking 43 defensive snaps and finishing with six total tackles. However, he spent most of his playing time on special teams, having taken 155 snaps as a specialist.
In his redshirt junior year, Castro was able to crack the Hawkeyes’ starting lineup. He played in 13 games and started eight, finishing the year with 33 tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack, five pass deflections, and two forced fumbles. He served as Iowa’s primary slot cornerback and allowed a completion percentage of just 55.8%.
The expectations rose for Castro in 2023, and he certainly took advantage. His redshirt senior year saw him put up career-best numbers with 67 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, three interceptions, and eight pass deflections. One of his interceptions resulted in a defensive touchdown. He finished as a second-team All-Big Ten member for his performance and ended the year with a 91.2 PFF defensive grade.
Though Castro generated NFL buzz for his 2023 season, he opted to return to Iowa for his sixth season, which he earned eligibility for due to his 2019 redshirt year and the extra 2020 COVID-added eligibility. He played primarily in the slot again in 2024, but he also saw his usage in the box increase, as well as taking a higher percentage of reps as a deep safety. With 57 tackles, three tackles for a loss, an interception, and a pass deflection, he earned third-team All-Big Ten recognition for his final year with the Hawkeyes.
Strengths
- Ball production is ideal heading into the professional level.
- Experience as a sixth-year senior shows up in how well he processes route concepts in coverage.
- Has a good feel for how route combinations play off of each other and how to defend them appropriately.
- Versatility playing in the box, in the slot, and occasional deep safety reps allow him to excel in multiple alignments.
- Showcases an aggressive mentality; once he identifies a certain route concept or reads a quarterback’s progressions, he acts upon it quickly to try to make a play.
- Plays with ideal effort in chasing down ball-carriers as a tackler and working to drag them down.
- Physical tackler who keeps a low center of gravity at the point of contact and has the play strength needed to pretty regularly bring ball-carriers down.
- Attacks the ball well in the air with good ball-tracking skills on deep balls.
- Isn’t afraid of entering a wide receiver’s catch radius to get physical and make a play on the ball in coverage.
- Coordinated athlete with good short-area quickness and fluidity.
Weaknesses
- Will turn 25 years old in October of his NFL rookie season.
- Not particularly sharp in his lateral movements, and speedier receivers can create separation against him.
- If he is to project as a safety in the pros, he only has 67 reps as a deep safety at the collegiate level, so he’s unproven there as a full-time defender.
- When tasked with man coverage out of the slot, he doesn’t always have the deep speed needed to defend vertical route concepts consistently.
- Aggressive mentality in coverage can come back to bite him, as he sometimes bites too easily on double moves or plays fakes and gets taken out of position.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Though some currently project Castro as a safety in the NFL, I have him sticking as a nickel cornerback at the next level.
He’s an intelligent defensive back with ideal route-recognition capabilities, and he’s one of the better slot defenders at stopping the run in this draft class. His urgency as a tackler – whether it be after the catch or in run support – is admirable and should fire up NFL scouts. As a physical defensive back with a high football IQ, the floor seems to be pretty high with the Iowa standout.
Castro’s main issue in terms of projection is his upside. He’ll be the same age in his rookie year as some players by the time their rookie contract expires. That, combined with average functional athleticism, likely limits just how high his ceiling is at the NFL level.
Given some of those limitations with his profile athletically and analytically, it’s hard to give Castro a grade worthy of a top-50 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. That said, he has the instincts, motor, and physicality needed to step in right away and contribute for a secondary out of the slot. Round 3 feels like the best range for a player like Castro.
