EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsFRISCO, Texas -- When the rookies put on their training camp skit in the Dallas Cowboys' final days in Oxnard, California, there was little doubt what role Caleb Downs would play.From the time the Cowboys selected him in the first round to the final camp practice last week at The Star, Downs and defensive coordinator Christian Parker have been within arm's length of each other.Parker walking him through different situations, teaching him different techniques before practice and during breaks. Downs listening and learning through it all.So when Downs appeared for the skit in a Parker-like sweatsuit, a pair of Jordans and stylish glasses, then spoke about Jay-Z, everybody in the room knew who he was. Downs would only smirk, "It was cool."Brian Schottenheimer liked it, too."The mannerisms were very good," the coach said. "Christian's one of those guys that he is wanting to be in games and wanting to be doing extra, and they spend a lot of time together. You can see them before practice, working together. I think that's important for any player, but certainly a young guy that has the high expectations of himself that Caleb does."Downs will make his NFL debut in nine days when the Cowboys take on the New York Giants. It's a moment he knew would be coming for years, well before he starred at Alabama for one season, becoming the first true freshman to lead the Crimson Tide in tackles, and at Ohio State, where he was a two-time All-American and a winner of the Jim Thorpe Award as the country's best defensive back.Since the Cowboys selected Downs at No. 11, trading up one spot with the Miami Dolphins to make sure they would get their priority player, Downs has done nothing but show he is ready."He's very willing," Parker said. "He's very curious."The curiosity is the product of growing up with a father, Gary Downs, who had a six-year career as a running back with three teams, and a family steeped in the game. He mastered three different defenses in three years in college.When Downs arrived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the winter of 2023, he prepared so much early on that the coaches had to make sure he knew he could not play in the Tide's bowl game. At Ohio State, it took him weeks to learn Jim Knowles' scheme, and then last year under Matt Patricia, who brought a complex scheme developed under Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots, Downs picked up in weeks not only the responsibilities of his own position but what everybody else was supposed to do too."He's hungry for knowledge," secondary coach Ryan Smith said. "He wants to learn. He wants immediate feedback, whether it's in the meeting room or walking through or just working on his footwork. ... He's definitely urgent, and I appreciate that about him. That's what you get usually with guys who've been in the league for a while. For him coming in as a rookie, it's cool to see."He is being asked to play the nickel spot in the defense but also working as a deep safety at times. In the nickel, he has been asked to cover receivers such as CeeDee Lamb and KaVontae Turpin. In the joint practices against the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints, he defended Puka Nacua and Chris Olave."Mike Tyson said success breeds confidence and confidence breeds success," Downs said. "So I feel like those two work together and when you win at things and you do good at things, it allows you to feel more confident. And then when you succeed, it just continues to grow from there."Tyson also said everybody has a plan until they get hit. As a slot defender, Downs also carries serious run game responsibilities, and he has been tasked in practice with taking on lead blocks from guard Tyler Smith and tackle Tyler Guyton."That's one of the things when you run some of those things that we have where he's got to fit the gaps every once in a while, you're going to run into an unfavorable matchup," Schottenheimer said. "But it's no different than if you're a safety or a corner and a big back like [Baltimore's] Derrick Henry gets out in space. It's like, 'OK, this might hurt a little bit, but I got to get him down.'"Defensive passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley used a modern-game description of Downs."What he is, he's a positionless player," Ansley said. "He can play most anything if you get a chance to teach it to him. He can learn it on the fly."Coaches say he rarely makes the same mistake twice. He can recognize patterns and concepts quickly, yet as camp went on, he was one of the last defensive backs to record an interception.His first came in his a camp practice in front of Cowboys fans at Ford Center at The Star on Aug. 25.Guarding Ryan Flournoy in tight red zone work, Downs was able to close the space and come down with the Dak Prescott pass in the back of the end zone. In an instant, he turned and punted the ball -- like other defenders had done in Oxnard -- in celebration.To Schottenheimer, it wasn't done to mark that he finally had a takeaway."He knows there's a lot more to come, but he and Dak were having some good trash talk back and forth, which is good," Schottenheimer said. "And it was actually a little smirk on Dak's face when he saw it was Caleb that got the interception. I think he was excited -- not excited he threw an interception -- but that we're seeing the growth of what's going to be a really, really great player."
