Caleb Downs on rookie minicamp, learning ‘very multiple’ Cowboys defense – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
The first-rounder breaks down the first day of minicamp.
FRISCO, Texas – When Caleb Downs arrived in Dallas last Friday, he received the Cowboys’ defensive playbook and began his work studying it.
A week later, Downs took to the practice field for the first time as the Cowboys began rookie minicamp, finally getting back to playing football.
“I felt like it went well,” Downs said of the first day. “Just learning the system, being able to be fully immersed in it, I feel like it was a good first day and
I’m looking forward to doing more.”
While the Cowboys were going through positional drills, Downs spent a good bit of the latter half of practice working one-on-one with new defensive coordinator Christian Parker.
“I feel like that’s when you learn fully what the coach means,” Downs said of what he took from Parker on Friday. “To be able to get hands on and do the drill with you, I feel like that’s a real positive.”
Downs and Parker, who both have received praise for their high-level understanding of the game and the defensive back position, have hit it off well early on in their time working together.
“Premium instincts. You can tell his football intellect, the way he directs traffic out there, the way he reads and reacts, his brain is connected with his feet, it was constant,” Parker said of Downs. “You’re watching three years of film and there’s not a difference in the tape. He’s constantly making the right decision, constantly down on the football, constantly making contact with it, constantly just in the right spot. Just a smooth transition, smooth player.”
“He’s a natural football player. He’s one of those first picks in the school yard, so he’s going to have natural versatility and it’s just a matter of what he can handle mentally and how we fit everything together.”
Cowboys DC Parker ready to mold Dallas’ defensive draft picks – Todd Archer, ESPN
Christian Parker is ready to make his mark in Dallas.
FRISCO, Texas — Will McClay would be at his computer, studying picks for the 2026 NFL draft when his cell phone would ding with another text message from Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker.
At one moment, it could be a picture of Caleb Downs. The next it could be Malachi Lawrence. They could be of whoever Parker had in mind.
“He does this thing where he messages you and he’s trying to get you to think his thoughts,” said McClay, the Cowboys’ vice president of player personnel.
“Little manifestations, I think,” Dallas coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “Yeah, [it’s] ‘The more I talk about Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence, the more these guys will make those decisions.'”
The not-so-subtle reminders worked because the Cowboys were able to land Downs and Lawrence in the first round, picks Nos. 11 and 23, of last week’s NFL draft. In fact, of the Cowboys’ seven draft picks, five came on Parker’s side of the ball.
It was reminiscent of the 2021 draft, the first for then-coordinator Dan Quinn, when the Cowboys’ first six picks were defensive players, starting with Micah Parsons in Round 1.
Like 2021, the Cowboys entered 2026 knowing they needed to overhaul the defense. When the Cowboys finished 2024 allowing 355.1 yards and 27.5 points per game, they thought it couldn’t get worse. But it did. Last season, the Cowboys allowed 377 yards per game and 30.1 points per game.
This offseason in NFL free agency, the Cowboys added safeties Jalen Thompson and P.J. Locke. They signed cornerbacks Cobie Durant and Derion Kendrick. Defensive linemen Jonathan Bullard and Otito Ogbonnia were signed as well. They re-signed Sam Williams and believe the move to outside linebacker in Parker’s 3-4 scheme will improve his productivity.
In the draft, they added Downs and Lawrence, plus linebacker Jaishawn Barham in the third round and cornerback Devin Moore and defensive lineman LT Overton in the fourth round.
Add in the trade to acquire veteran linebacker Dee Winters from the San Francisco 49ers for a fifth-round pick and the makeover is complete. Well, perhaps so, although executive vice president Stephen Jones said the Cowboys will continue to look for help.
Jaishawn Barham brings versatility, physicality to Cowboys’ defense: ‘I’m definitely the hitter’ – Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News
Jaishawn Barham has a shot to be an impactful rookie.
The Cowboys view Barham as an off-the-ball linebacker in their 3-4 scheme because he has the ability to make tackles in space. In his last season at Michigan, Barham had 32 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks.
“I started off the ball at Michigan, too,” Barham said during the first day of practices for rookie players at The Star. “So if you just go back and watch my first three years at college football, I was an off the ball [linebacker] but I always got some third down rushes or second and long rushers. It was a build up.”
Barham, 6-3, 240 pounds, said his favorite linebackers in the NFL are some of the past and present hardest hitters.
“I like Ray Lewis, Azeez [Al-Shaair] from the Texans, Fred Warner, a couple of guys for sure,” he said. “I feel like they’re all different types of players. Ray Lewis, straight hitter, he’s a commander of the defense. Azeez, a take-your-head-off kind of guy and Fred is more like a cover, chill guy. He can run sideline-to-sideline. I want to be all three so I can hit, so I can show how smart I am but for right now I’m definitely the hitter.”
New Jersey Drive: Caleb Downs, Cowboys draft picks get numbers from 18-99 – Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire
The numbers have been assigned.
DB Caleb Downs: No. 18
The team’s highest pick and prospective savior of the defense will wear a number that’s seen plenty of action on both sides of the ball. Defensive talents like Damontae Kazee and Damone Clark have sported No. 18 for Dallas, but so have Randall Cobb, Bernie Kosar, Jalen Tolbert, and Chris Boniol. Downs wore No. 2 with Ohio State, but that single-digit jersey was given to new cornerback Cobie Durant after Juanyeh Thomas wore it last season.
OLB Malachi Lawrence: No. 57
The No. 57 jersey has been passed down through a lot of Cowboys linebackers in recent years: Jack Sanborn, Buddy Johnson, Rashaan Evans, and Luke Giffoird are just the last four. Officially listed as an outside linebacker now, Lawrence will look to make it his own for a much longer stretch as he moves on from the No. 51 he wore at Central Florida, even though, perhaps curiously, that number appears to be available.
LB Jaishawn Barham: No. 55
Also listed as a linebacker to fit with how he’ll be deployed, Barham will inherit the No. 55 jersey, which has a fair bit of history behind it in Dallas. Logan Wilson and Carl Lawson didn’t last long in the double-nickels, but Leighton Vander Esch spent six storied years with the combo. And long before him, Ring of Honor member Lee Roy Jordan made No. 55 a feared number for opponents trying to come over the middle of the field against the Cowboys.
Michael Trigg looking to prove he belongs with the Cowboys – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
The prize UDFA is gearing up to make some noise.
FRISCO, Texas – As the Cowboys begin rookie minicamp on Friday, 11 undrafted free agents will be looking to show they deserve a spot on Dallas’ roster.
Among them will be Baylor tight end Michael Trigg, who some thought had a chance to get drafted in the fifth- or sixth-round, but ended up not hearing his name called. For Trigg, that supplies him with plenty of motive going into the weekend.
“More motivating,” Trigg said of going undrafted. “Just putting a chip on my shoulder, honestly.”
At the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Trigg measured in at 6’3 ¾” and 240 pounds, with 10 ½” hands and an 84 3/8″ wingspan, the longest wingspan among tight ends in the class. At his pro day in Waco, Cowboys tight ends coach Lunda Wells spent some time coaching him through drills, leading to an all-in-all positive pre-draft process for Trigg.
“It was another great blessing and opportunity to be in,” Trigg said of the pre-draft process. “Going to the combine, got to meet a lot of great coaches, great mentors, be around a lot of great guys. Even at my pro day with coach Wells, just being more hands on than more of the scouts. Just really reflecting, you can see the intent he has and how he carries it with his players.”
Daily Discussion Question: Which free agent acquisition are you more excited about as a result of the draft?
