The first-rounder breaks down the first day of minicamp.<\/p>\n
FRISCO, Texas \u2013\u00a0When Caleb Downs arrived in Dallas last Friday, he received the Cowboys\u2019 defensive playbook and began his work studying it.<\/p>\n
A week later, Downs took to the practice field for the first time as the Cowboys began rookie minicamp, finally getting back to playing football.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like it went well,\u201d Downs said of the first day. \u201cJust learning the system, being able to be fully immersed in it, I feel like it was a good first day and I\u2019m looking forward to doing more.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Cowboys were going through positional drills, Downs spent a good bit of the latter half of practice\u00a0working one-on-one with new defensive coordinator Christian Parker.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI feel like that\u2019s when you learn fully what the coach means,\u201d Downs said of what he took from Parker on Friday. \u201cTo be able to get hands on and do the drill with you, I feel like that\u2019s a real positive.\u201d<\/p>\n Downs and Parker, who both have received praise for their high-level understanding of the game and the defensive back position, have hit it off well early on in their time working together.<\/p>\n \u201cPremium instincts. You can tell his football intellect, the way he directs traffic out there, the way he reads and reacts, his brain is connected with his feet, it was constant,\u201d Parker said of Downs. \u201cYou\u2019re watching three years of film and there\u2019s not a difference in the tape. He\u2019s constantly making the right decision, constantly down on the football, constantly making contact with it, constantly just in the right spot. Just a smooth transition, smooth player.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a natural football player. He\u2019s one of those first picks in the school yard, so he\u2019s going to have natural versatility and it\u2019s just a matter of what he can handle mentally and how we fit everything together.\u201d<\/p>\n Christian Parker is ready to make his mark in Dallas.<\/p>\n FRISCO, Texas \u2014 Will McClay would be at his computer, studying picks for the\u00a02026 NFL draft<\/a>\u00a0when his cell phone would ding with another text message from\u00a0Dallas Cowboys<\/a>\u00a0defensive coordinator Christian Parker.<\/p>\n At one moment, it could be a picture of\u00a0Caleb Downs<\/a>. The next it could be\u00a0Malachi Lawrence<\/a>. They could be of whoever Parker had in mind.<\/p>\n \u201cHe does this thing where he messages you and he\u2019s trying to get you to think his thoughts,\u201d said McClay, the Cowboys\u2019 vice president of player personnel.<\/p>\n \u201cLittle manifestations, I think,\u201d Dallas coach Brian Schottenheimer said. \u201cYeah, [it\u2019s] \u2018The more I talk about Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence, the more these guys will make those decisions.’\u201d<\/p>\n The not-so-subtle reminders worked because the Cowboys were able to land Downs and Lawrence in the first round, picks Nos. 11 and 23, of last week\u2019s NFL draft. In fact, of the Cowboys\u2019 seven draft picks, five came on Parker\u2019s side of the ball.<\/p>\n It was reminiscent of the 2021 draft, the first for then-coordinator Dan Quinn, when the Cowboys\u2019 first six picks were defensive players, starting with\u00a0Micah Parsons<\/a>\u00a0in Round 1.<\/p>\n Like 2021, the Cowboys entered 2026 knowing they needed to overhaul the defense. When the Cowboys finished 2024 allowing 355.1 yards and 27.5 points per game, they thought it couldn\u2019t get worse. But it did. Last season, the Cowboys allowed 377 yards per game and 30.1 points per game.<\/p>\n This offseason in\u00a0NFL free agency<\/a>, the Cowboys added safeties\u00a0Jalen Thompson<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0P.J. Locke<\/a>. They signed cornerbacks\u00a0Cobie Durant<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Derion Kendrick<\/a>. Defensive linemen\u00a0Jonathan Bullard<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Otito Ogbonnia<\/a>\u00a0were signed as well. They re-signed\u00a0Sam Williams<\/a>\u00a0and believe the move to outside linebacker in Parker\u2019s 3-4 scheme will improve his productivity.<\/p>\n In the draft, they added Downs and Lawrence, plus linebacker\u00a0Jaishawn Barham<\/a>\u00a0in the third round and cornerback\u00a0Devin Moore<\/a>\u00a0and defensive lineman\u00a0LT Overton<\/a>\u00a0in the fourth round.<\/p>\n Add in the\u00a0trade<\/a>\u00a0to acquire veteran linebacker\u00a0Dee Winters<\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0San Francisco 49ers<\/a>\u00a0for a fifth-round pick and the makeover is complete. Well, perhaps so, although executive vice president Stephen Jones said the Cowboys will continue to look for help.<\/p>\n Jaishawn Barham has a shot to be an impactful rookie.<\/p>\n The Cowboys view\u00a0Barham as an off-the-ball linebacker in their 3-4 scheme because he has the ability to make tackles in space. In his last season at Michigan, Barham had 32 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks.<\/p>\n \u201cI started off the ball at Michigan, too,\u201d Barham said during the first day of practices for rookie players at The Star. \u201cSo if you just go back and watch my first three years at college football, I was an off the ball [linebacker] but I always got some third down rushes or second and long rushers. It was a build up.\u201d<\/p>\n Barham, 6-3, 240 pounds, said his\u00a0favorite linebackers in the NFL are some of the past and present hardest hitters.<\/p>\n \u201cI like Ray Lewis,\u00a0Azeez [Al-Shaair] from the Texans<\/a>, Fred\u00a0Warner, a couple of guys for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like they\u2019re all different types of players. Ray Lewis, straight hitter, he\u2019s a commander of the defense. Azeez, a take-your-head-off kind of guy and Fred is more like a cover, chill guy. He can run sideline-to-sideline. I want to be all three so I can hit, so I can show how smart I am but for right now I\u2019m definitely the hitter.\u201d<\/p>\n The numbers have been assigned.<\/p>\n DB Caleb Downs: No. 18<\/p>\n The team\u2019s highest pick and prospective savior of the defense will wear a number that\u2019s seen plenty of action on both sides of the ball. Defensive talents like Damontae Kazee<\/a> and Damone Clark<\/a> have sported No. 18 for Dallas<\/a>, but so have Randall Cobb<\/a>, Bernie Kosar, Jalen Tolbert<\/a>, and Chris Boniol. Downs wore No. 2 with Ohio State, but that single-digit jersey was given to new cornerback Cobie Durant after Juanyeh Thomas<\/a> wore it last season.<\/p>\n OLB Malachi Lawrence: No. 57<\/p>\n The No. 57 jersey has been passed down through a lot of Cowboys linebackers in recent years: Jack Sanborn<\/a>, Buddy Johnson<\/a>, Rashaan Evans<\/a>, and Luke Giffoird are just the last four. Officially listed as an outside linebacker now, Lawrence will look to make it his own for a much longer stretch as he moves on from the No. 51 he wore at Central Florida, even though, perhaps curiously, that number appears to be available.<\/p>\n LB Jaishawn Barham: No. 55<\/p>\n Also listed as a linebacker to fit with how he\u2019ll be deployed, Barham will inherit the No. 55 jersey, which has a fair bit of history behind it in Dallas. Logan Wilson<\/a> and Carl Lawson<\/a> didn\u2019t last long in the double-nickels, but Leighton Vander Esch<\/a> spent six storied years with the combo. And long before him, Ring of Honor member Lee Roy Jordan made No. 55 a feared number for opponents trying to come over the middle of the field against the Cowboys.<\/p>\n The prize UDFA is gearing up to make some noise.<\/p>\n FRISCO, Texas \u2013\u00a0As the Cowboys begin rookie minicamp on Friday, 11 undrafted free agents will be looking to show they deserve a spot on Dallas\u2019 roster.<\/p>\n Among them will be Baylor tight end Michael Trigg, who some thought had a chance to get drafted in the fifth- or sixth-round, but ended up not hearing his name called. For Trigg, that supplies him with plenty of motive going into the weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cMore motivating,\u201d Trigg said of going undrafted. \u201cJust putting a chip on my shoulder, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n