FRISCO, Texas – Let me recall a short conversation with a trusted acquaintance here at The Star about four hours prior to the draft, when asking sarcastically as have been asked seemingly a million times over the past couple of months, "So who are the Cowboys drafting with the 12th pick?"
Funny guy, me.
"There's so much going on out there," was the response to parry my question.
So made it simple: "Well, who's your favorite player among those likely to go in the top half of the draft."
Without hesitation came this answer:
"Caleb Downs."
A safety, knowing the Cowboys only once in their previous 65 drafts had selected a true safety in the first round, that being Roy Williams with the eighth pick of the 2002 NFL Draft.
My response then was: "Is he Darren Woodson?"
You know Woody, second-round draft choice in 1992 out of Arizona State. Played 12 seasons with the Cowboys. To me the heart and soul of those Super Bowl-winning defenses in the 1990s, extending his impact into the early 2000s. Could play deep safety. Could play nickel corner if teams like San Francisco wanted to line up, say, Jerry Rice inside. Could tackle. Could blitz. All that and special teams, too, from 1992-2003, until back problems sent him to injured reserve in 2004 and into retirement that December.
He only tried returning that year at head coach Bill Parcells' request. Bill knew how important Woody was to his defense. The one during the 10-6 season of 2003 that finished first overall in total defense, No. 3 against the run and No. 1 against the pass. Allowed only 260 points that year, the team only once since then allowing fewer in a season (250 in 2009).
Yeah, that Woody.
The answer to my question came with arched eyebrows and a knowing smile, screaming like "very well could be."
That spoke volumes to me, softening my stance on using high draft capital and eventually high financial cap capital on a safety. And Downs, as we knew, is more than a mere safety. From his time at Alabama that one year under Nick Saban to these past two at Ohio State, this guy could play deep safety. He could play nickel corner. He could play linebacker. He could blitz. He could cover. He could tackle. Bet if you ask him, he'd be first to play on special teams.
For further emphasis of his potential impact, one draft-day TV analyst pointed out, "Ohio State rebuilt its defense around Caleb Downs." And as Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer would later say, "The cool thing for us is when you bring eight-to-10 guys in you kind of figure out who they follow, and it was very evident that Caleb's got that personality, that demeanor that the guys gravitate to him. I'm talking about the other players, other elite players around the country."
Having taken all that into consideration, I'm thinking there is no way in hell this Downs guy is going to fall down the first round to No. 12.
Dang if he didn't, thanks to a quarterback, a running back, two wide receivers and two offensive tackles being selected among those first 10 picks, plus four players with such high first-round grades they maxed out of the Cowboys' reach. That's 10.
And when all that took place, here the Cowboys were with the arched-eyebrows player a pick away from their 12th spot. And to tell you how much they loved this Darren Woodson-like safety, as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones pointed out, how could they live knowing they were that close to Downs if another team swiped him away.
And if you recall, this had happened before. Like in 2014 when they were at 16, one pick away from nabbing their linebacker, Ryan Shazier. At 15, the Steelers broke their hearts. Now, that turned out OK, as Dallas "settled" for Notre Dame offensive lineman Zack Martin.
Can recall former Cowboys head personnel guy, the late Gil Brandt, relaying to me many years later that in 1985, at No. 17 in the first round, the Cowboys were poised to select Mississippi Valley State's Jerry Rice, figuring they were going to outsmart everyone else by grabbing this SWAC wide receiver from an HBCU school. They knew why, at his Pro Day workout, he ran a pedestrian 40 at the school, basically doing so on a field with little grass in tiny Itta Bena, Miss., way out in the Mississippi Delta.
To think, 15 teams had already passed on him, and two of them doing so by picking other wide receivers, the Jets at 10 selecting Al Toon and the Bengals at 13 taking Eddie Brown. Thatl eft the Cowboys thinking they were going to out slick 'em all by grabbing Rice at 17.
Well, not so fast. Because at 16 the 49ers jumped all over Rice, who became the San Francisco Treat, and you all know the rest of that story.
The Cowboys, aching, selected Michigan defensive end Kevin Brooks, which would not be the only time they badly failed picking a Michigan defensive lineman. Brooks only spent a disappointing four seasons with Dallas.
So this time the Cowboys acted, because as vice president of player personnel Will McClay said, "I was surprised he was there." They bought themselves an insurance policy to make sure Downs was their guy by spending two very late fifth-round compensatory picks to switch one spot with Miami to secure the 21-year-old Downs' services, one of the last guys with a first-round grade on their board. And if you recall COO Stephen Jones pointing out prior to the draft that there only were around a dozen players on their board with first-round grades. That pond was drying up fast.
Or as Jones would point out, "(Downs) wasn't one of the guys we felt like would drop. He was obviously somebody where we'd be jumping up and down if he was there."
And with that, the Cowboys jumped up and Downs was their guy, drafting them not so much a "safety" but a damn good "football player."
And here is all you need to know about Downs' character. Google the start of Friday's press conference, where he, not Jerry, began the press conference in front a jam-packed media room with, "How's everyone doing?" Downs then proceeded to thank his family in attendance, introducing by name his father Gary, mother Tonya and sister Dewanna before going out of his way to point out his sister in medical school made an exception from her studies to make the trip here for his Cowboys introduction.
Impressive.
Sort of reminded of the 2021 draft when the Cowboys were in the exact same No. 12 position in the first round. After watching highlights of Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons, was sold on his ability, not only to put pressure on quarterbacks by blitzing, but having this innate ability to shoot gaps at the line of scrimmage to run down running backs, to single-handily ruin offensive plays.
Kept saying to anyone who would listen back then, the Cowboys need this guy.
Someone said, well, you can't afford to draft a linebacker this high, and there was this debate going on about where the Cowboys would play him. Middle linebacker? Outside linebacker? Pass rush defensive end?
Certainly remember when growing closer to draft day, when asked that very question one more time about Micah, my answer was, "On the field."
Same goes with this Downs guy. And that the Cowboys bypassed other positions of need, like waiting to the 23rd pick in the first round to select a defensive end (Malachi Lawrence), like passing on a cornerback or a much-needed linebacker – at least until their next pick, No. 92 in the draft (28th in the third round) – is another indication Cowboys new defensive coordinator Christian Parker has the ear of the Joneses, Schottenheimer and McClay, trying to rebuild one of the worst defenses in franchise history in his own image.
Look at some of the guys the team has signed in free agency. Versatile safeties and cornerbacks. And remember, even though they are transitioning to a 3-4 base defense, last year the Cowboys played just less than 70 percent of the snaps in nickel. These versatile pieces are a necessity, with Schottenheimer and Parker proponents of that quality instead of simply pigeonholing guys into either this or that.
Now it's this and that.
Plus, McClay and Schotty labeled Downs as a "multiplier" with the type of player he is, the type of character he brings to the table and just how well he diagnoses offensive plays, all of that. Why, he makes guys on the field around him better players. Same as Woody, who really made Roy Williams a better safety those two years they played together, Williams earning his first Pro Bowl nod in 2003.
That comparison is not lost on Jerry Jones.
"Darren, through the years, had such a leadership quality," Jerry said. "And what I would point to anybody that is entering the NFL as Woodson, as an example, look at what he is after football. Now that's impressive. But it's the same logic, same rationale, same judgment. Leader, leader by example. And then, of course, he outworked everybody.
"So if we get Darren Woodson out of (Downs), we should really put a red letter around this day.
Why not, April 23, 2026.
