Cowboys vs Caleb Downs' friends: Dallas to play 5, top-10 draft picks

Yahoo Sports2h ago12 min readOriginal source →

TL;DR

The Dallas Cowboys will face five top-10 draft picks in the 2026 season, including former teammates of Caleb Downs. Out of their 17 games, only four will not feature a first-round talent from the recent draft.

Key points

Dallas Cowboys will face five top-10 draft picks in 2026
Only four games will not feature a first-round talent
50% of the draft class's top 10 picks will be opponents
Caleb Downs has three former teammates among the top picks
Ohio State had 11 players taken in the draft

Caleb DownsDallas CowboysNFL DraftOhio State

Cowboys vs Caleb Downs' friends: Dallas to play 5, top-10 draft picks

The focus of the past few days has been on which college prospects will be wearing Cowboys blue and silver in 2026. But the other 31 teams in the league loaded up their rosters, too, and Dallas will have to square off against many of those same highly-touted rookies they just debated over in the draft room.

Of the 17 games of the 2026 schedule, the Cowboys will have just four contests where they don't see a first-round talent standing on the opposite sideline, and over the course of the year, they'll see 50% of this draft class's top 10 picks. That includes three former teammates of Dallas' top pick, Caleb Downs. Ohio State had a whopping 11 players taken in the draft overall, including three in the Top 10.

Here's a quick look at the first-round draft picks Dallas is slated to face with each of their opponents during the 2026 season.