The Dallas Cowboys wound up with Caleb Downs with their first selection during the 2026 NFL Draft. It never gets old saying or typing that out.
As we are all aware, it took the Cowboys being a bit aggressive to fully land Downs. Dallas originally sat at 12 when the draft began and had to send two fifth-round picks to the Miami Dolphins (177 and 180 overall, compensatory selections that the Cowboys received) to move up one spot and secure their guy. Hopefully we are able to tell that story many times in the future about how it all worked out wonderfully.
Advertisement
We have continued to learn more and more about how the Cowboys had eyes for Downs. The trade up demonstrates that clearly.
The Cowboys tried to trade up with Cleveland
In the lead-up to the draft there were many an analyst who theorized that the Cowboys could trade up with the Cleveland Browns. This was when Cleveland sat at six, but early in the draft they traded down with the Kansas City Chiefs and then held the ninth overall pick. This is where the Cowboys wanted to move up to.
ESPN released a documentary on Sunday night, “The Pick Is In”, where they chronicled all sorts of happenigns throughout the 2026 NFL Draft. Stephen Jones was shown calling Browns GM Andrew Berry and discussing sending picks 12 and 20 to Cleveland in exchange for 9 and 24. Cleveland declined.
Advertisement
Stephen offered to throw in a fifth-round pick, Dallas had three of them at this moment in time, but the Browns still rebuffed. The Browns sat and picked offensive lineman Spencer Fano and Stephen pontificated that they wanted to stay ahead of the New York Giants given how much they wanted an offensive lineman. He was proven to be correct as the Giants took Francis Mauigoa which made the Downs selection possible at 11.
Speaking of, the Cowboys originally offered the Dolphins a fifth-round pick “and something” to move up to 11. It was after Miami declined that Dallas decided to throw in the second fifth-round pick that they gave up.
It is interesting to see how aggressive the Cowboys were willing to be in order to get their guy. Obviously this is all more fun because it worked out and the Cowboys wound up with so much that we are fans of.
Read the full article here
