Much has been made about the fact that the Dallas Cowboys drafted Caleb Downs in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. This makes sense given how much we expect it to change the defense and team at large moving forward.
But Downs was one of two players taken in the first round for the Cowboys. What’s more is that he was the player taken with Dallas’ original selection, or at least the original selection was utilized to trade up to get him. The Cowboys were clearly itching to do so as they attempted
multiple trades before finally getting the Miami Dolphins to bite and allow this world to open up.
In the aftermath of the draft there has been a lot of talk about how the Cowboys utilized their draft capital from the Micah Parsons trade. Their other first-round pick was the one that they got during it from the Green Bay Packers, and we now have some clarity on exactly how the team was processing it in real time.
Dallas debated CJ Allen before taking Malachi Lawrence
Before the draft started the most critical position of need for the Cowboys was linebacker. You could argue that it remains so even at this point.
You never want to draft for need, but the reality is that the Cowboys were in desperate need at linebacker. When they were on the clock at 20 overall they seemed to like their options to such a degree that they traded back with the Philadelphia Eagles.
ESPN’s “The Pick Is In” documentary (it was released on Sunday evening) chronicled all of this action. When Dallas moved back from 20 to 23 after the Philly trade they were debating taking Lawrence (which they ultimately did) against George linebacker CJ Allen.
Brian Schottenheimer, as Jon Machota transcribed in his post, petitioned for Lawrence and the impact that a pass rusher could make for the team. Lawrence projects to be someone who will stabilize what the team lost in Parsons last August.
As far as linebacker is concerned, there has been some chatter in the aftermath of the documentary airing that the Cowboys would have been reaching on CJ Allen if they’d taken him there. Relative to where Allen was projected to go that certainly makes sense.
You have to remember though that the Cowboys didn’t have a second-round pick. It would have been logical, on some level, to prioritize getting a player who they knew wouldn’t have made it to 92 overall which was their next selection. They correctly would have anticipated the run on linebackers that began in the second round. The run was so significant that Dallas executed a trade as it was happening with the San Francisco 49ers to acquire Dee Winters and shore up their need in a different manner.
In the interest of discussing an alternate universe, is there anyone who would have preferred CJ Allen? Why? Why not?
