Dallas Cowboys safety Caleb Downs (13) participates in a minicamp practice at The Star on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in Frisco.
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News
OXNARD, Calif. — The secondary is the last line of defense, clearly not solely responsible for the Cowboys’ defensive crash and burn of 2025 but a unit that played a significant part. If there’s anything that looks strikingly different about the Cowboys of 2026, it is the secondary, particularly the safeties who should represent Dallas’ biggest roster upgrade for the season.
In the Cowboys’ second camp workout, rookie Caleb Downs was seen fielding punts, playing slot corner and working at starting strong safety as well.
Does the first-round pick from Ohio State by way of Alabama have anything else up his sleeves?
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“I’m willing to learn whatever it is, so if there’s more to learn, I’m there for it,’’ Downs said.
Downs will be learning from new coordinator Christian Parker and alongside veteran safety Jalen Thompson who, somewhat amazingly, just turned 28 even though this is his eighth NFL season. A starter for the Cardinals the last five seasons, Thompson was the club’s biggest swing in free agency, signing a three-year $33 million deal to basically run the show from his free safety spot.
I sometimes wonder about how the NFL does things backward from most — its free-agency period starts six weeks before the college draft — and, in this case, whether the Cowboys would have pursued Thompson as vigorously had they known Downs was on the way. I believe the answer to be yes because the almost wholesale changes to the secondary were mandated by a season in which the Cowboys led the league going the wrong way in too many categories.
Most points allowed — 30.1 per game.
Most passing yards allowed — 251.5 per game.
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Most possessions scored upon — 51.4%.
We have talked at length about Dak Prescott’s 2023 season when he finished second in the MVP voting behind Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson with a 36-9 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio. Cowboys’ opponents last year put up an MVP-worthy 35-6 ratio against this defense, and it didn’t seem to matter whether the quarterback was New York’s Russell Wilson (in his next to last NFL start) or Arizona’s Jacoby Brissett or Jaxson Dart throwing to backup Giants’ receivers.
They all lit up the Cowboys.
Dallas’ attempt to right the ship starts with the hiring of Parker and eight other new defensive coaches. It includes a shift in design to a 3-4 defense. It features Rashan Gary rushing the passer from one outside linebacker spot. But most of all there is change in the secondary where cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and Kaiir Elam and safety Donovan Wilson (they combined for 27 starts) are gone. Safety Malik Hooker and nickel corner Reddy Steward remain but are slotted into backup roles. DaRon Bland hopes to be a new, healthier player and there’s no question that will be the case for last year’s rookie corner Shavon Revel, who has shed the leg brace he had to wear following torn ACL surgery.
And then there’s Thompson at the back end, and that’s what makes head coach Brian Schottenheimer smile the most.
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“Jalen Thompson’s play, it jumps off the film,’’ Schottenheimer said. “I think JT is in Year 8, and when your best players practice that way, that’s usually the standard for success because all the young guys are still trying to figure it out. They see that, they replicate it.
“There was a play that Caleb got beat on in the spring, I showed it to the team where CeeDee got him on a little maneuver route. The same play came up yesterday and Caleb gloved it. That’s to the point I’ve made about Caleb, he does not repeat mistakes.’’
Now, admittedly, it doesn’t require much to get this head coach worked up talking about his players or expressing optimism about the future. So while he was going over all these pluses that he sees in the early workouts, Schottenheimer was asked (wisely, not by me) if he was excited about his defense at this time last summer.
“I’m always excited,’’ he said, pondering the trap he had just stepped into. “When you think back on it, the defense obviously took the brunt of the criticism. I put myself right at the top of that as head coach. But I think I’m excited because of how hard these guys are working, all the changes that we’ve made, you know.
“But we haven’t done anything yet. And we need to do it.’’
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That will take time. The first preseason game is two weeks off and the season opener is six weeks away in New York. Opening with the last place team in the NFC East should be something of a break, but the Giants’ receivers ate the Cowboys secondary for lunch twice last year — losing in overtime at Dallas, winning comfortably in the season-ender — and it didn’t matter who was healthy for New York.
Still, it seems reasonable to think this defense is going to make strides forward. A sizable jump? A big leap? We don’t know that. That’s on Parker and, as the last ones on the field to have a say at stopping big plays, it’s on an enthusiastic veteran from Arizona and a hybrid rookie who’s already played and learned from some of the best with the Crimson Tide and Buckeyes.
“I feel like making things ‘same as same as’ is the key,’’ Downs said. “I played for Kevin Steele on Coach Saban’s staff, I played for Jim Knowles and Matt Patricia at Ohio State. I have a lot of defensive knowledge and that allows me to play faster out there.’’
The Cowboys are ready to see what Downs can do … all over the field.