Elated Jerry Jones on Cowboys landing Downs: 'He was a prize for us sitting there'
By Garrett Podell Apr 24, 2026 at 8:33 am ET • 5 min read 
Getty Images FRISCO, Texas -- Entering the 2026 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys assigned true, first-round pick grades to just 12 players in this year's class while possessing the draft's 12th overall pick.
That number obviously included offensive players, but Dallas was zeroed in on defensive players after allowing 30.1 points per game in 2025, the most in the entire NFL and the second-most in franchise history. The Cowboys had their sights set on Ohio State All-American safety Caleb Downs, but they were, in the words of Dallas vice president of personnel Will McClay, biting their nails after each selection in the top 10. Downs, along with Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey (the second overall pick by the New York Jets) and Ohio State edge rusher Arvell Reese (the fifth overall pick by the New York Giants, were the only three players the Cowboys were willing to trade up to acquire.
Once the Giants selected Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa 10th overall, conversations began between Dallas and the Miami Dolphins, who owned the 11th overall pick. Those discussions yielded the Cowboys moving up to 11th overall after parting with the 12th overall pick and two fifth-round compensatory picks, No. 177 and No. 180, to the Dolphins. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones labeled the decision to part with those two fifth-round picks to move up one spot "big time insurance" to make sure no other team was going to come up and snipe them for Downs.
"He was a prize for us sitting there. He was a prize for us sitting there with the fives, without the fives," Jones said Thursday night. "When it would absolutely cut your heart out, and we've had it done, I've had it done. I was just thinking of the times that we've been the next pick and had somebody move up and get him [a player Dallas wanted]. We had every reason to think that that might be happening. ... We didn't want to lose him."
The Cowboys' conviction in Downs was so high that the elation owner and general manager Jerry Jones felt Dallas being able to land Downs 11th overall was similar to the Dallas Mavericks' 1.8% chance to move up 10 spots to win the 2025 NBA Draft lottery. The Mavericks landed Duke All-American forward Cooper Flagg with that pick, and Jones feels Downs' ability to transform Dallas' defense is similar to Flagg's impact.
"We had high respect for him [Downs] to be trite and really felt that others did too. I liken those odds [of getting Downs] to when the [Dallas] Mavericks got that center [forward Cooper Flagg],'' Jones said. "So I tried to beat them [the Mavericks] with the odds with this pick of Downs at the spot that it was. I still think they got us by a percentage of a point, but we still beat some odds there to have him."
The plan, all along with the Cowboys' first of two first-round picks, No. 12 and No. 20, that evolved into No. 11 and No. 23, was to solidify that nickel spot in their pass defense.
"Our planning and discussion really focused in on either a corner or safety that get in the nickel for us," Jerry Jones said. "He easily was the most obvious one that could get in the nickel for us."
Why is that? The Cowboys enjoyed having steady play out of that spot for years with veteran Jourdan Lewis, but they let him walk to the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency last offseason. Without him in 2025, Dallas had the NFL's worst pass defense, allowing 251.5 passing yards per game. Lewis was on Jones' mind tonight as the Cowboys angled their way up to grab Downs.
"Very much," Jones said. "I've been brainwashed over how bad you need a nickel this whole spring and summer. So really it's a big thing for us, and we had looked for combinations, with a corner-nickel or a safety-nickel. We didn't know it was going to be quarterback of the defense nickel. That's what you got here. So that's what had us all on our feet when it got close."
Jones actually asked head coach Brian Schottenheimer to make a list of players he would be "sick to his stomach" to miss out on, given that Dallas was picking 12th overall, and then turn that list into his. Downs was the second player on Schottenheimer's four-player list.
"I think the cool thing was how swiftly these guys to my left [Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones and Will McClay] acted. And like I said, we had a high grade on this guy," Schottenheimer said Thursday night. "We think he's a multiplier. We think the versatility that he brings to the defense is incredible and how quickly these guys reacted and said: 'We have a chance to go get what we think is a difference maker.' And it was very surgical."
How relieved was new defensive coordinator Christian Parker about being able to coach Downs in Dallas? Parker hasn't yet bought a house since relocating from Philadelphia to Dallas, but thanks to getting Downs, he'll be buying a house within the next week after the draft.
"The biggest thing that [Christian Parker] said to me ... It's actually funny, but when we got Caleb, he told me and Jerry, he said, 'Hey, now I'll buy a house,'" Schottenheimer said Thursday night. "He hasn't bought a house yet. He's been busy, he's been grinding on film, but getting a guy like Caleb made him comfortable. I don't think he's bought it yet, but in the next couple days he [Parker] said he's ready to buy a house."
Why Downs is different
McClay said Downs first popped up on Dallas' radar during his freshman year at Alabama, when he earned playing time under Nick Saban in 2023. He then transferred to Ohio State in 2024 and helped lead the Buckeyes to a national title as well as Big Ten runner-up honors in 2025. Downs earned consensus All-American honors both years in Columbus and took home the Jim Thorpe Award, which goes to college football's best defensive back, in 2025.
"He's a difference-making type player, and we're very, very fortunate to get him. I was surprised that he was there," McClay said. "You look at the accolades, like when you hear Coach Saban and people talk about how smart he is, and then you talk about the importance of that. ... He's a multiplier. He's going to make other people better. So, it was very easy to see, and I'm glad he's a Cowboy."
Downs' ability to get others lined up in the right spots just before the snap was one of the biggest reasons the Cowboys were smitten with him. Miscommunication and coverage busts were rampant in Dallas during the 2025 season. Downs is viewed as the magic elixir to fix that issue in new defensive coordinator Christian Parker's defense. Schottenheimer said Downs will be tasked with handling coverage assignments when offenses send players in motion.
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