(Editor's Note: While the start of the 2026 NFL Draft isn't until late April, it's never too early to profile some of the key participants. The staff of DallasCowboys.com intends to preview the landscape of the draft's top prospects, with an emphasis on possible Cowboys draft picks – from the first round to the last. Today's featured players are Texas LB Anthony Hill Jr. and CB Malik Muhammad.)
AUSTIN, Texas – When the Cowboys go on the clock in next month's NFL Draft, adding to the defense will be top of mind, although head coach Brian Schottenheimer said the team is in a position to "draft natural, draft pure."
Schottenheimer did recognize that the roster still has positions of need, and while they may not reach solely to fill a need if better players are available when they're drafting, Dallas will have their options. Two potential defensive options were on display at Texas' pro day on Tuesday in linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and CB Malik Muhammad.
Hill and Muhammad, both 21, are natives of the Dallas area and have spent all of their football careers up to this point playing in the state of Texas. The two were key pieces of Texas' 2023 signing class, Hill a five-star recruit out of Denton Ryan and Muhammad a four-star recruit out of South Oak Cliff. Both won state championships in high school at AT&T Stadium at their respective schools and were considered to be key pieces of the future of the Longhorns' defense.
Now, they could be key pieces of an NFL defense. If it is the Cowboys that call their name next April, playing close to him would be a surreal feeling.
"It'll mean everything," Muhammad said when asked about the possibility of the Cowboys drafting him. "I grew up in Dallas, played football in Texas, it'll mean everything to get drafted by Dallas. I've got the resume for it for it to be a huge history type of story."
The feeling was mutual for Hill, who wouldn't have to go far to see his family.
"I'm a Dallas kid, so it would be nice to go play for the Cowboys," Hill said. "Wouldn't have to go too far, Denton's like 30 minutes down the road, so it would be nice."
When the Cowboys contingent arrived in Austin on Monday before pro day, they took Hill out to dinner to get to know him better. Schottenheimer and new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker were part of the group at dinner with Hill, who said he ordered smothered chicken and a Caesar salad, trying to eat light ahead of his workout the next day.
"It was good, it was a good convo," Hill said of his dinner with the Cowboys. "We had some laughs, talked some football, it went pretty good."
Inside linebacker is one of, if not the biggest need on the Cowboys' roster as things currently stand. It's the only defensive position Dallas has not added at in free agency up to this point, and Hill presents a big, athletic option who feels he can wear multiple hats in the defense.
"I just wanted to show that I'm versatile," Hill said of his pro day goal. "I can do a lot of different stuff, and I'm just able to run and move."
Should the Cowboys end up adding Hill to their defense, he would reunite with his former college teammate DeMarvion Overshown, who was in his final year at Texas when Hill was a true-freshman.
"It can't be two Agent Zero's, so I know I would have to get a new number," Hill said. "But man, it would be a blessing to play with him. I've been watching him my whole life. It'd be really cool playing with him, learning from him and kind of modeling my game after him while I've been at Texas, so it'd be pretty cool."
Hill said the two haven't spoken in a few months, but that he does reach out to pick Overshown's brain and add certain elements of his play style to his game.
"The way he takes on blocks, I kind of try to use that in my game," Hill said. "He kind of uses some finesse and a little bit of power so I kind of try to model my game and kind of use some of that to rely on him and do it in the game."
At the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Hill posted solid athletic testing numbers, recording the third-fastest 40-yard dash time among all linebackers at 4.51 seconds, a 37" vertical jump, 10'5" broad jump and 21 reps of bench press. Hill did not do athletic testing at his pro day, and only did positional drills in front of NFL personnel.
Speaking of good testing numbers, Muhammad feels like his combine performance spoke for itself and was an important element of teams' evaluations of him. At the combine, he ran a 4.42 40-yard dash, jumped a 39" vertical, and posted a 10'10" broad jump.
"My biggest thing was my testing. They didn't know how athletic, how fast I was," Muhammad said of the pre-draft process. "So when I checked that box, it was more so now we can just talk football, where they think they can help me at and what am I good at. They think I'm a very versatile guy, I can play inside and out, I can play pattern match, I can play man, I can play regular zone."
At Texas' pro day, Muhammad did little athletic testing and mainly focused on positional drills. He said he'd met with the 49ers, Raiders and Commanders already, and had upcoming meetings with the Cowboys, Saints, and Giants in the near future.
As the Cowboys' free agency approach with defensive backs has shown, versatility is an important element of the game for modern day defensive backs. While Muhammad was primarily an outside corner at Texas, he would bump inside to the slot/nickel corner spot on a matchup-based basis at times and is confident in his ability to play at both spots at the next level.
"With the instincts that I have, my man coverage skill, my ability to play zone too and with my IQ also, I feel like it's not going to be too much of a change," Muhammad said. "I feel like I can go in there and do that, obviously. During the season, if there was a matchup, I would go in the slot and play nickel and guard people in the slot, but I haven't worked too much of it, but I'm sure I'll get work at it when I get to the league."
When Muhammad gets his name called next month in the NFL Draft, he'll be the latest member of his family to reach the NFL level. His cousin Jabbar Muhammad is with the Jaguars after being an undrafted free agent in the 2025 draft class, another cousin AJ Green is a cornerback for the Dolphins, among many others. He takes pride in continuing his family's history of playing football at a high level.
"It's overly huge, man," Muhammad said. "I grew up with them, lived with them, we all in the garage playing football with helmets and pads on at six or seven years old playing in the snow. It's a big accomplishment for the family, and for the legacy also."
Both Hill and Muhammad play positions of need for the Cowboys' defense. The bigger questions that remain are, does Christian Parker see them as fits and his scheme, and when are they taken? Hill has been projected to go in the second-round, with Muhammad not far behind in the third round in some projections. Dallas currently only has one day two pick in this class at #92 overall, but anything is possible on draft day.
