{"id":819331,"date":"2026-03-18T15:27:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/819331\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:27:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:27:19","slug":"dallas-cowboys-land-elite-safety-prospect-in-new-2026-nfl-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/819331\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys Land Elite Safety Prospect in New 2026 NFL Mock Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are few teams in the NFL<\/a> with richer histories than the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, but they\u2019ve unfortunately been mired in futility for more than three decades.<\/p>\n

A 31-year NFC Championship game drought cannot be blamed solely on one aspect, but the defense has been the main culprit for the last few seasons.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys have suffered through back-to-back seasons of being one of the worst defenses in the league, and trading away All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons<\/a> certainly didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n

While the defense improved toward the end of last year with the midseason addition of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, the unit still has a long way to go.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Quinnen Williams (92) warms up prior to the game against the Kansas City Chiefs.Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Dallas could improve a lot on that side of the ball if they follow the direction of Fox Sports\u2019 Joel Klatt\u2019s most recent mock draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The college football<\/a> savant has them taking Ohio State Buckeyes<\/a> star Caleb Downs, who is widely considered to be the best safety prospect in years.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys haven\u2019t had many game-wrecking defensive players outside of Parsons, so selecting Downs is a must if they want the best shot at having another bonafide superstar.<\/p>\n

The hard-hitting safety accumulated 257 total tackles, 16 tackles for loss, six interceptions and three forced fumbles over his three college seasons.<\/p>\n

He has the versatility to sit back in coverage and take away top receivers, or he can drop down into the box and ruin an opposing running back\u2019s day.<\/p>\n

Downs is a Swiss Army knife that can be plugged into multiple parts of the field and make a tremendous impact.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tough to say he would completely transform Dallas\u2019 defense by himself, but he\u2019d be an ideal piece for the defense to build around in the future.<\/p>\n

Related: Cowboys Make CeeDee Lamb Contract Decision Before NFL Free Agency<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Mar 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few teams in the NFL with richer histories than the Dallas Cowboys, but they\u2019ve unfortunately been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[613,257,7,491,871,6,6736],"class_list":["post-819331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-caleb-downs","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-football","tag-micah-parsons","tag-nfc-championship-game","tag-nfl","tag-quinnen-williams"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}