Cowboys news: Dallas gets more defensive help in Round 3

Thanks to elite focus, Caleb Downs is more than ready for new challenge from Cowboys – Joseph Hoyt, Dallas Morning News

How first-round pick Caleb Downs got to Dallas.

FRISCO — Cowboys first-round defensive back Caleb Downs sat next to Nick Saban at Alabama so much that they started calling him “Little Nick.”

Saban had Downs’ undivided attention, and Downs had Saban’s respect. They spent only one season together, but it was enough for Saban to call Downs one of his favorite players he’s ever coached.

With that respect came honesty. So, when Downs entered the transfer portal in 2024 after Saban’s retirement, Saban was honest with his young protege. Downs’ father, Gary, recalled Saban telling Downs he could transfer to Georgia and play in a similar system to what he ran at Alabama, or he could transfer to Ohio State, where an entirely new system and an entirely new position would be waiting. Downs wanted a new challenge.

“When he got to Ohio State I asked him, ‘How long is it going to take to learn coach [Jim] Knowles’ system?'” Gary recalled on Thursday. “He said, ‘Probably a week or week and a half.’ And sure enough, within a week to a week and a half, he had it.”

You’ll never guess what Downs, the 11th overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, said to Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker after they hugged inside The Star in Frisco on Friday morning.

“Where’s the playbook at?” Downs said. “When can I get it?”

That mindset has helped Downs excel for his entire football career. He started on varsity as a freshman at Mill Creek High School and had five interceptions — a rarity inside a high school football hotbed like Gwinnett County, Ga. He later became a consensus five-star recruit, the Gatorade National Player of the Year and the No.1 safety recruit in the country. It continued in college where he became a three-time All-American in three seasons. He was considered by many to be one of the best prospects in the entire draft.

Malachi Lawrence wants to ‘set the standard’ with Cowboys – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com

Malachi Lawrence makes his goal in Dallas known.

**FRISCO, Texas** — Malachi Lawrence is officially a part of the Dallas Cowboys’ rebuilt defense and, needless to say, his smile couldn’t possibly be any bigger. Only hours after getting the nod with the 23rd-overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the former UCF pass rusher was on a charter flight to North Texas to join his new team. Lawrence was instantly taken aback the moment he stepped off of the charter bus that brought him from the airport, standing on the marble floor just inside the main entrance while looking up at the hanging chandelier lights and over toward the five Super Bowl trophies that are on constant display. “This is crazy,” he said. The 22-year-old becomes only the fifth player from UCF ever drafted in the first round and the only ever selected by the Cowboys in the first round.

“It’s like a standard to be set now,” he said. “You can go to UCF and be a first-round pick on defense. I just want to represent my family in the right way and to put a good name on UCF.

For Lawrence, who was once a little bright-eyed boy in Louisville, Kentucky with dreams of one day being an NFL player, it’s all still so surreal. His path to this point included playing both linebacker and tight end at duPont High School before heading to the University of Central Florida, where he wound up being one of the best pass rushers in the country.

“When I first got to college, I didn’t really have any pass rush skills that I knew about yet,” Lawrence said.”

That’s obviously all changed, and in part with the assistance of Cowboys’ assistant defensive line coach Demeitre Brim, previously a defensive analyst at UCF who, throughout the pre-draft process, helped Dallas understand exactly how high the ceiling could be for Lawrence.

BREAKING: Cowboys trade for 49ers LB Dee Winters – RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys

The Cowboys get their linebacker.

Only 10 picks into the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft the Dallas Cowboys made a move.

The Dallas Cowboys made a trade with the San Francisco 49ers for veteran linebacker Dee Winters. Winters was a sixth-round pick for the 49ers back in the 2023 NFL Draft, but he is a local name for the Cowboys what with having played collegiately at TCU. Winters started all 17 games for the 49ers last season and helps to really raise the floor of the linebacker spot for the Cowboys, the lone position that they had yet to really address so far this offseason. That Dallas was able to acquire him for only a fifth-round pick is great business. ***Daily Discussion Question:* What is your take on the Cowboys trade for LB Dee Winters?**