Iowa’s Sebastian Castro has gained plenty of experience playing extensively in the Hawkeyes defense over the past three seasons. He’s listed as a safety, but he’s had to wear many hats. Here at the Senior Bowl, Castro has played all over the defense, ranging from deep safety to box safety, along with playing in the nickel or as a dime backer.
Castro credits his time with the Hawkeyes and being part of defensive coordinator Phil Parker’s defense to prepare him for the league and whatever role a defense gives him.
“It made me feel comfortable just being in any situation no matter who I was covering, whether it was a receiver, a small guy, or a big tight end,” Castro said at the Senior Bowl. “It made me feel comfortable playing in any situation.”
Castro flashed at various times throughout Thursday’s practice, having a nice pass breakup in 1-on-1s and being extremely active in run support. That aggressive demeanor against the run is something that Castro likes to embody. He looks up to multiple NFL players in that regard.
“Honestly, I like guys like Budda Baker,” Castro said. “A strong safety being a high safety. I love how you can just diagnose the play and shoot for it and play fast. Another guy that comes to mind is Devon Witherspoon, and he plays in the nickel. I like his game and how he plays aggressive. He can play man… he can do a lot of things.”
Castro has five forced fumbles in the past three seasons, showing physicality as a tackler when he makes contact with a ball carrier. However, he’s been solid in coverage, too, having four INTs the past two seasons along with nine pass deflections.
When asked if he had spoken to Pittsburgh, Castro perked up about the possibility of staying in the Black and Gold after wearing it with the Hawkeyes. That includes the possibility of playing with former teammate DL Logan Lee.
“I would love to play with the Steelers,” Castro said about Pittsburgh. “They have a great culture over there and a lot of history over there, so I got a lot of respect for them. Logan Lee is a good time because he wants me to go there because that was my boy in college. So he’s been telling me that he wishes that I could end up there. I wore Black and Gold in high school, and I wore Black and Gold in college, so it’d be pretty sick to keep that trend going… plus I looked up to Troy Polamalu growing up.”
Lee was drafted by the Steelers in the sixth round last year, and Castro is currently projected to go in a similar range somewhere on Day 3. Pittsburgh could be in line for a safety later in the draft, seeing as S Damontae Kazee is a pending free agent. Castro has that same play demeanor that Kazee brings to the table.
He could come in and be a backup safety and contribute on special teams behind Minkah Fitzpatrick and DsShon Elliott. Ideally, Castro could contribute to sub packages with the intelligence and demeanor that Pittsburgh wants in their defensive backs.
