FRISCO, Texas – Three days of the NFL Draft. Eight initial draft picks turned into seven players, thanks to two trades. But there's a lot more numbers to describe a wild weekend for the Cowboys, including five press conferences and seven conference calls.
Add it all up and you've got a lot different voices talking about these seven players, including the headliners of this Cowboys draft, safety Caleb Downs, who went No. 11 overall and fellow first-round pick Malachi Lawrence.
Let's go down the line – pick by pick – and check out some of the most memorable quotes either from or about the newest Cowboys on the roster.
Caleb Downs
Jerry Jones: He's a fabulous football player, but when you think about one of the most glaring things in our minds that we didn't do on defense was communicate, was communicate right when it's time to get people set up to be in their best position to make a play. That's what this guy was built to do and coached and grown up to do. He'd heard his background yesterday, coaching everywhere in it, generations of it, and then he's put it out there. So, you need you a cerebral guy and we got him. I don't know that I could have really said and planned and said we got to get that done right there. If I'd had that kind of attitude about getting it done, we'd have probably given away the draft to try to get there. So, we had to have it come to us in some degree."
Brian Schottenheimer: "People are drawn to him. He's very approachable, very serious. There's a military background in his family. There's a coaching background in his family. He's very curious about all kinds of things. And I just think what I love about him is he is so comfortable in his own skin that you see him, whether it's walking into the head coach's office the very first time and you do putt putt and he's comfortable and, quite honestly, kicked my ass. But he was just very kind. He's like, 'You want to do it again?' I was like, 'No, we'll get to that later.' But he's just very comfortable. And you see that in his play. You see that in the way he takes charge. I think Jerry was talking about that earlier. The communication of this guy is different. He's not asking approval. He's saying, "Hey, close left; rip, rip; lulu"…whatever the calls are – he's driving the defense. And for a young guy to be able to do that at Alabama playing for Nick Saban and then going to a completely different defense in Ohio State under Jim Knowles, and then Matt Patricia comes in – he's never wavered. And that jumped off the film, that command and it comes from self-awareness and confidence."
Malachi Lawrence
Will McClay: "He's a pressure player so you would like him in any scheme. I think he adds value to the scheme because the edge rush and some of the things that he can do; the multiplicity that he could provide for the defense. But number one is getting after the passer with speed and athleticism and we think he can do that."
Brian Schottenheimer: "We love the ability to rush the passer. We feel great about what we have with RG (Rashan Gary), Ezeiruaku, James Houston, but this guy's got tremendous upside. His first step quickness, Todd, is elite. The ability to turn his toe and run the edge, as we like to call it, is we think elite. And then, of course, the one thing I love about the guy is he has an innate ability to attack the football while he's attacking the quarterback. And then we feel like you need athletic edge pieces in this defense, in this division, because of the quarterbacks you're going to see. Jaxson Dart, Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts. And it's nice to have a guy in house like Coach Brim that's been around him. But this is a guy we've been talking about a lot over the last, I'd say, week to 10 days and had him in for a top 30 and really, really excited about getting the chance to get him."
Jaishawn Barham
Will McClay: "I think he's been on our radar all season, especially when we started talking about what we were trying to do defensively when at the Combine. Christian [Parker] came in and talked about the linebackers and the outside and the inside linebackers and potentially doing some different things. And then you start looking at Arvell Reese. There's a lot of similarities in what they do and how they did it. And just excited to get him on the roster because of; number one, he's extremely physical., and you want to increase the speed of your defense and the toughness. I think he does that."
Brian Schottenheimer: you look at what we got with Jaishawn [Barham] is a piece that has played both on the ball at Michigan, off the ball at Michigan and Maryland. And so, we think versatility with him is going to be something that causes major problems for people that we play. Dee's athleticism jumps off the tape. Jaishawn's physicality jumps off the tape. If you were doing the old Oklahoma drill, which my old man would love to see, I'd probably put Jaishawn out there, one of the first reps."
Drew Shelton
Brian Schottenheimer: We really like his smooth footwork. He's a good athlete, plays well in space. We think he, again, is a guy that's going to go out there and he's got a really good understanding of angles and how to get in people's way. We just like the traits, and we bet on a guy that's played, I think, 34 starts. We think we can get him in here to compete with some of the guys we got. We're looking forward to throwing him in the mix with Guyton and Nate Thomas and those guys. And he'll be a left tackle that's got some guard versatility, but we also expect him to be able to swing to the other side as well."
Drew Shelton: "Actually, when I first got down there (to Dallas) to train, I actually went to the Cowboys last home game against the Chargers. Just that being the last NFL game I've been to is kind of like foreshadowing to what's to come. I mean, that stadium is crazy. It's an awesome atmosphere and it's just the people around, they're invested and that's the kind of organization you want to play for."
Devin Moore:
Will McClay: "He's a long athletic corner that can play press, he can play off, he can play zone schemes. And when you do pattern match and some different things in defense, he can do those. He understands spacing and stuff like that. He has the ability to tackle. He's a big guy who can bend and run and change directions, mirror, double move routes, things like that. The health thing, our doctors and trainers gave him a medical grade that we thought was passing and he did not miss a game last year. So, we feel good about where he is and excited about adding him to the team. A big athlete that can think, feel good about it."
Devin Moore: "I'm 100% healthy. Ready to go right now. I had a sports hernia surgery right after the season. That was kind of the main question I was getting from teams. The main thing I had to discuss with teams, but I just had to make sure to reinstate that I'm fully healthy. I'm ready to go right now and excited to get working."
L.T. Overton
Jerry Jones: "It was best described by one of our guys, we would love to have Osa, but we couldn't afford Osa. So we got a guy that does a lot of the things he does, little bit different, but does a lot of things he does but one we could afford. And that gave us what we had wished we could have kept by keeping him and others. Can't have that kind of priced player and have the other complimentary players we've got to go with him. So, I think that says that all I too had to work through that. And I said, man, we're talking like we were when we had Osa. And I felt good about that, by the way. But this gives the kind of combination of things that they wanted to really be able to give them their options on how they play that interior of the line."
Will McClay: "He played at Alabama. He played all over the line of scrimmage, and in this defense you have to line up in multiple alignments. You can line up head up, inside, outside. The deal is being able to play knock back and then being able to play a gap and a half and also the athleticism to move around on the defensive front. So versatility does matter in this defense and then playing at the high level that he did at Alabama, we feel like he can come in here and contribute at a level right now that can help the defense."
Anthony Smith:
Anthony Smith: I think I fit great. I can stretch the field and take the top off the defense. I'm a great special teams player as well, so I add that depth there. And for me, I just like to compete. So just pushing the guys that are in front of me that may be playing in front of me, just pushing those guys to be better and to be at their best. That's what it's all about. I just love to compete.
Will McClay: (On Smith's special teams experience a factor in getting picked) "It's a big part of it. It doesn't matter where you get drafted and where you come from, but it's what you add to us. And so that element is there, and that gives him an upper hand. But there's the other things that he has to do as well. That's a part of it that goes in the evaluation. The quickest way to get on the field is special teams. He's got an upper hand because he's done it at a good level. We'll see if he can do it at the NFL level."
