{"id":265746,"date":"2026-04-25T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T10:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265746\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T10:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T10:00:17","slug":"dallas-cowboys-introduce-2026-first-round-picks-caleb-downs-malachi-lawrence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265746\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys introduce 2026 first round picks Caleb Downs, Malachi Lawrence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/n8adfijn9mo90png.jpg\" alt=\"Cowboys 2026 first rounders visit The Star for first time\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>    <\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">FRISCO, Texas &#8211; The two newest Dallas Cowboys defenders were introduced to the media on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>   Cowboys introduce Caleb Downs <\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The No. 11 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft got his first look at his new home on Friday morning, greeting fans and team brass outside The Star in Frisco.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">One fan told Downs he was going to be the next Ed Reed, the longtime Ravens safety who was elected to the Pro Football Hall of 2019.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Downs downplayed the comparison. &#8220;I&#8217;m just gonna be Caleb Downs, that&#8217;s the best way to put it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The safety took a look at the five Lombardi Trophies the team has displayed at The Star, a collection the team hasn&#8217;t added to since before Downs was born.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Downs told FOX 4 &#8220;At the end of the day, that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re striving for. That&#8217;s what everybody&#8217;s goal is at the beginning of the season. It&#8217;s time to put in the work to restore it,&#8221; after checking out the collection.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Downs also already owns a pair of Cowboys-themed cowboy boots, as he showed off to the media during his tour of The Star.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">&#8220;Once you put on the boots, everything feels like home,&#8221; Downs said.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Downs said he felt welcomed from the time he took a visit to the Cowboys during the pre-Draft process.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">&#8220;When I came here for my 30 visit. I had a great feeling and vibe around meeting everybody. So I would say, yeah, I knew there was a big interest and I thought it was a good opportunity for me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/videoframe_186176.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">He was asked about his excitement about playing for Christian Parker, the new defensive coordinator the Cowboys hired in January.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">&#8220;Super excited, honestly. I asked him first thing, &#8216;Where&#8217;s the playbook at? Where&#8217;s the playbook at, when can I get it?&#8217; Just because I&#8217;m about ball, and that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m looking forward to doing,&#8221; Downs said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">&#8220;He&#8217;s been genuine since the moment I met him, and I was glad he got to meet my parents and my sister today. So looking forward toward that relationship goes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> Cowboys introduce Malachi Lawrence <\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The Cowboys&#8217; second pick in the first round of last night&#8217;s NFL Draft arrived a few hours after Downs.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Malachi Lawrence was seen signing autographs for fans outside The Star in Frisco right after he got off the bus.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Much has been made of Lawrence&#8217;s abilities as a pass rusher. He told the media he didn&#8217;t have those abilities when he first arrived at UCF.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">&#8220;When I first got to college, I really didn&#8217;t have any pass rush abilities or skills. I say that I knew about yet, so like when I got there, just looking up to the older guys,&#8221; Lawrence said. &#8220;And so just watching him at practice and then recreating them I say, that&#8217;s what that&#8217;s how my arsenal kind of started growing and then different coaches as well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/videoframe_115372.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Lawrence worked with current Cowboys assistant defensive line coach Demeitre Brim at UCF, and he says that relationship will help him fit in with the team&#8217;s defense.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a great fit for me defensively, that 3-4 scheme. And also, just like they said, bringing in Coach Brim, a familiar face. So already just being familiar with his face, and he&#8217;s been telling me great things about the staff here. I&#8217;m ready to get to it,&#8221; Lawrence said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information in this story comes from Dallas Cowboys press conferences.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4news.com\/tag\/nfl\/cowboys\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4news.com\/tag\/nfl\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4news.com\/tag\/sports\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sports<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRISCO, Texas &#8211; The two newest Dallas Cowboys defenders were introduced to the media on Friday afternoon. Cowboys&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1044,102,104,103,80,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-265746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-cowboys","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-news","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}