The Dallas Cowboys drafted Ohio State safety Caleb Downs 11th overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. Dallas\u2019 defense struggled mightily last season. So needless to say, selecting Downs, who\u2019s considered the top safety prospect in the draft, made a ton of sense for the franchise.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrafted:<\/em> Round 1, No. 11 overall<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n If positional value — specifically with regard to safeties, which are typically not picked high — did not impact draft philosophies, Downs probably would have been the No. 1 defender off the board, based on his performance, production and intangibles as the defensive quarterback for championship-caliber programs at Alabama and Ohio State. As a natural leader with outstanding instincts, communication skills and playmaking ability, Downs is the megawatt talent Dallas’ defense needs to help the team climb back into title contention after finishing 28th or worse in yards per game allowed in each of the past two seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n Caleb Downs was a big-time star at Ohio State. Will he emerge as a major contributor in Dallas?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Caleb Downs attended Mill Creek High School, located in Hoschton, Georgia. He played football, basketball, and baseball. Considered\u00a0<\/span>the nation\u2019s top safety prospect, he was named the 2023 USA Today Defensive Football Player of the Year. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/sup><\/p>\n Downs received college offers from schools such as Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. Yet, he ultimately chose Alabama. During his debut season with the Crimson Tide, Downs recorded 107 combined tackles and two interceptions. For his efforts, he was named SEC Freshman of the Year.<\/sup><\/p>\n Downs then transferred<\/a> to Ohio State. In his first year with the Buckeyes, he was an unanimous All-American and was named First-Team All-Big Ten. He also helped the team win a national championship. He finished the season with 82 tackles and two interceptions.<\/p>\n In 2025, Downs was a unanimous All-American once again and took home Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors. He also <\/span>won<\/a> the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the top defensive back in college football. <\/span>Downs finished with 68 tackles, two forced fumbles, two interceptions, <\/span>and a sack. He <\/span>then <\/span>declared<\/a> for the NFL draft.<\/span><\/p>\n The Cowboys had a disappointing 2025 season. They finished with a 7-9-1 record and missed the playoffs. Led by quarterback Dak Prescott<\/a>, <\/span>the wide receiver duo of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens<\/a>, <\/span>as well as running back Javonte Williams<\/a>, <\/span>the Cowboys possessed a great offense last season. However, the team\u2019s struggling defense is perhaps the main reason for missing the playoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n For the first time in franchise history, the Cowboys allowed more than 30 points per game (30.1) and gave up a team-record 511 points. Their secondary was picked apart as opposing <\/span>quarterbacks completed 68.5% of their passes. Even Russell Wilson (New York Giants<\/a>) torched Dallas\u2019 defense, throwing for 450 yards and three touchdowns in Week 2.<\/a><\/p>\n With that said, the Cowboys could certainly use a top-notch safety like Downs, who could develop into an NFL superstar. Undoubtedly one of the leaders on the Buckeyes\u2019 defense, Downs displays excellent instincts and physicality. He\u2019s also extremely versatile. He can play all across the defense, whether it\u2019s deep half, post safety, in the box, on the line of scrimmage, or blitzing the backfield.<\/span><\/p>\n When the Miami Dolphins<\/a> came on the clock with the 11th overall pick, the Cowboys didn’t want to lose out on the Caleb Downs sweepstakes. So they traded<\/a> two fifth-round picks to move up one spot and get their guy. Trading up for Downs should prove to be a great move by the Cowboys as he instantly makes the team\u2019s secondary better. Yes, he’s the perfect fit.<\/p>\n The Dallas Cowboys drafted Ohio State safety Caleb Downs 11th overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. Dallas\u2019 defense struggled mightily last season. So needless to say, selecting Downs, who\u2019s considered the top safety prospect in the draft, made a ton of sense for the franchise. NFL.com\u2019s Bucky Brooks wrote an article about the perfect player-team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":281671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647,19,6431],"tags":[33533,33654,7422],"class_list":["post-281661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-cowboys","category-nfl-teams","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-caleb-downs","tag-dallas-cowboys-news"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281661"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281785,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281661\/revisions\/281785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Caleb Downs Listed as a Perfect Fit with the Cowboys<\/h2>\n
<\/h3>\n
Spotlighting His Career<\/h3>\n
Does Downs Fit Perfectly with the Cowboys?<\/h3>\n
\nMain Image: Chris Jones-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"