wrote on social media<\/a>. \u201cThey wanted a versatile defensive back and they plan to use downs accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat Downs\u2019 versatility means for Dallas<\/p>\n
Listen, I don\u2019t want to overreact. It\u2019s one practice. Pads aren\u2019t even on yet. But I also don\u2019t want to underreact.<\/p>\n
I think this is significant. The Cowboys would not be moving Caleb Downs around like this if they were locked in with him at nickel. They wouldn\u2019t waste valuable reps doing it in the first training camp practice if it weren\u2019t part of a larger vision. The end goal, it seems, is to make Downs a true do-it-all defensive back.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m in love with what the Seattle Seahawks did with Nick Emmanwori. They drafted him in the second round as a safety, then locked him into the nickel role. That allowed head coach Mike Macdonald to do whatever he wanted on defense regardless of opposing offensive personnel. If the Cowboys can figure that out with Downs and get a similar result, the ceiling for this defense goes up considerably.<\/p>\n
And yet, I would have been simultaneously underwhelmed if Dallas chose not to use Downs\u2019 versatility. After all, that was the calling card he had at Ohio State as he grew into a blue-chip draft prospect. Based on what we saw, it sounds like they plan to use it.<\/p>\n
The snap-count question and base defense implications<\/p>\n
Downs\u2019 movement around the defense also addresses a concern of mine. When you trade up to No. 11 overall to draft a player, he needs to be on the field for 90% of defensive snaps or something close to it. If Downs were locked in at nickel and the opposing offense went to a two-receiver set, forcing Dallas into its base defense, I didn\u2019t want Downs to be the player leaving the field.<\/p>\n
The fact that they\u2019re using him everywhere suggests he stays on the field in base packages too, whether that means pairing him with Jalen Thompson at safety or sliding him into another role alongside Malik Hooker. That flexibility is exactly what you draft a player like Downs for.<\/p>\n
It also raises a follow-up question: when Downs moves out of the nickel, who slides in? Is it Cobie Durant? Caelen Carson? Reddy Steward? That competition will be worth monitoring throughout camp.<\/p>\n
Cowboys\u2019 starting secondary takes shape<\/p>\n
Hoyt also reported the Cowboys\u2019 starting secondary for the first defensive play of camp. The outside cornerbacks were Cobie Durant and DaRon Bland, with Caleb Downs at nickel and Malik Hooker and Jalen Thompson at safety. No real surprises there, but it confirms Durant and Bland are the odds-on favorites to start outside when the season begins.<\/p>\n
The question mark remains whether Shavon Revel Jr. can do enough in camp to change the equation, specifically whether he can show he can play zone coverage or excel as a man-cover corner. For now, the outside spots appear to be Durant and Bland\u2019s jobs to lose, though I think it\u2019s closer to an open competition than most realize.<\/p>\n
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Dallas Cowboys News<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBrian Schottenheimer says what many forgot about Cowboys\u2019 $7.5 million player as 2026 training camp kicks off\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\nI\u2019ve been surprised with the way some fans have talked about the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 fourth-year fullback. I\u2019m glad head coach Brian Schottenheimer set the record straight. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys answered one of the biggest Caleb Downs questions one practice into training camp, though the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[153,34582,102,113,104,103],"class_list":["post-391490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-american-football","tag-caleb-downs","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391490","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=391490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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