Almost a month after the draft, you already know a lot of things about the Dallas Cowboys rookies. But no matter how much time you’ve spent observing the 2026 rookie class, there are still things you don’t know about them. Here are seven things you may not have known:
Oh Captain, my Captain!
The Cowboys have traditionally liked drafting college team captains, and this year is no different. Five of the seven draft picks were team captains in college. Caleb Downs, Malachi Lawrence, Drew Shelton, LT Overton, were all team captains in college,
WR Anthony Smith was a game-day captain in his senior season. In the case of Downs and Overton, this is particularly noteworthy as it’s a rarity for a transfer player to be voted captain in college.
4- and 5-star recruits galore
The Rivals database, which records how players were ranked coming out of high school, shows the 2025 Cowboys with just four 5-star recruits on the roster – OT Tyler Booker, DE Jadeveon Clowney, DE Dante Fowler, and WR George Pickens – all of whom were added in 2025. Booker and Pickens remain on the roster, but the Cowboys gave themselves a big helping of former 5-star recruits in 2026:
- Three were added via free agency: DE Rashan Gary, DT Jonathan Bullard, CB Derion Kendrick
- Two more were added via the draft: S Caleb Downs and DT LT Overton were both 5-star recruits coming out of high school.
In fact, the entire draft class was well thought of coming out of high school, including four UDFAs with a 4-star rating:
body .sbnu-legacy-content-table td, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table th, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table { border: 1px solid #000 !important; border-collapse: collapse !important; }| Round | Player | POS | College | Star Rating |
| 1 | Caleb Downs | S | Ohio State | 5 |
| 1 | Malachi Lawrence | DE | UCF | 3 |
| 3 | Jaishawn Barham | OLB | Michigan | 4 |
| 4 | Drew Shelton | T | Penn State | 4 |
| 4 | Devin Moore | CB | Florida | 4 |
| 4 | LT Overton | DT | Alabama | 5 |
| 7 | Anthony Smith | WR | East Carolina | 3 |
| UDFA | Michael Trigg | TE | Baylor | 4 |
| UDFA | DJ Rogers | TE | TCU | 4 |
| UDFA | Jordan Hudson | WR | SMU | 4 |
| UDFA | Kelvin Gilliam | DT | Virginia Tech | 4 |
It’s still early in the process, and the Cowboys still have to whittle down their roster from the current 90 players, but compared to the 74 players (returning players + reserve/future + RFA + ERFA +UFA) they had prior to the start of free agency in March, the Cowboys increased their number of 4-and 5-star recruits from 28 to 36. That’s something.
And the veterans are noticing it too. Jake Ferguson recently said “this is the best talent he’s seen in the Cowboys’ tight end room.”
Seniors but no Senior Bowl
One of the draft assumptions frequently made about the Cowboys is their supposed preference for Senior Bowl players, but that may be an out-of-date assumption. The Cowboys did draft six seniors with their seven picks (only Caleb Downs is a junior), but only LT Overton participated in the Senior Bowl.
The pre-draft visit oracle malfunctioned
Caleb Downs (1st) and Malachi Lawrence (1st) were on the pre-draft visitor list, and we found out during the draft that Jaishawn Barham (3rd) had been a visitor as well. Outside of that, UDFA DT Tommy Dunn was the only other player who came in for a visit, and he was brought in for Dallas Day.
What we now know about the Cowboys 2026 draft board
It’s not much, and we’re still waiting for somebody to inadvertently leak at least part of the board. But barring that, here’s what we know.
- Per David Moore, Caleb Downs was the fourth player on the Cowboys board. David Bailey, Arvell Reese, and Jeremiyah Love were the only players ahead of him. Bailey was the only other player the Cowboys would have been tempted to move up for.
- Prior to the fourth round, where the Cowboys had three picks, Cowboys director of college scouting Mitch LaPoint said the team still had eight players left on their board with third-round grades. No word yet on whether any of their picks carried a third-round grade.
Only one small-school players
In early January, Stephen Jones mentioned the Cowboys “wanted to focus more on power 5 schools” and explained that NIL was driving small-school talent to larger schools.
And true to their word, their first six picks all hail from Power 4 conferences (SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, ACC), with the Big Ten (Caleb Downs, Ohio State – Jaishawn Barham, Michigan – Drew Shelton, Penn State) coming out ahead of the SEC (Devin Moore, Florida – LT Overton, Alabama). Only WR Anthony Smith, East Carolina, did not go to a Power 4 school.
Compensatory picks
The Cowboys had two compensatory picks in the 2026 draft, and while the team didn’t end up picking two players with those specific picks, the two comp picks did go into the trade package that secured Caleb Downs, which gives us the opportunity for a little comp pick history trivia.
The league has been handing out comp picks since 1994, and the Cowboys have been one of the top teams taking advantage of that, collecting 60 comp picks over that span. Here’s how those 60 picks compare to the top teams in the league – and to the rest of the NFC East.
body .sbnu-legacy-content-table td, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table th, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table { border: 1px solid #000 !important; border-collapse: collapse !important; }| Rank | Team | Picks |
| 1 | Baltimore | 64 |
| 2 | Dallas | 60 |
| 3 | Green Bay | 54 |
| 4 | LA Rams | 53 |
| 5 | San Francisco | 49 |
| … | ||
| 7 | Philadelphia | 45 |
| T14 | NY Giants | 31 |
| T28 | Washington | 19 |
