After thanking Jones and the Cowboys, letting out a big yell and hugging his family, Downs began his walk to the draft stage. On his way, he received a bear hug from Dallas’ first-round pick in 2025 and his former teammate at Alabama Tyler Booker.<\/p>\n
As he entered the final stretch, Downs stopped and stared at the Cowboys’ star on the right side of the stage, taking in the moment that he’s hoped to experience since he was a kid.<\/p>\n
“It’s definitely a surreal moment to be able to have that experience and do that,” Downs said of the moment. “Just to have my family there, have people that have been around me since I was a kid, that’s an awesome thing to do. And then to see the team that picked me, I’d say, it’s an honor to see it for sure.”<\/p>\n
He then buttoned up the suit with pictures of him and his loved ones lined on the inside, took the stage and embraced NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, smiling while holding a Cowboys jersey for the first time with “Downs” and the number one on the back.<\/p>\n
From there, it was a flurry of over a dozen interviews with local reporters, national media companies and more as the football world reacted to Dallas’ selection. Downs’ night finally wrapped up around 11:30 p.m., where he prepared to fly to Dallas the following day.<\/p>\n
After two and a half hours of sleep, Downs was ready to go again. He and his family boarded a private jet to Love Field Airport in Dallas, and Downs touched down on his new home turn at 11:25 a.m. on Friday. While the Cowboys admitted they thought getting Downs with the 11th overall pick was a longshot, Downs wasn’t completely surprised and had an inkling from the jump that Dallas could be his landing spot.<\/p>\n
“I had an inclination just being around everybody, getting a feel for everybody and the vibe,” Downs said. “Definitely knew it was an opportunity, and was excited with it. So, who wouldn’t want to be here? It’s a great feeling\u2026”<\/p>\n
“I was praying that morning and the whole draft process, ‘I want to get in the best place for me, Lord. Put me in the place that you want me to be.’ And this is where he put me, so this is where I’m going to make an impact.”<\/p>\n
Downs and his family then loaded up onto one of the Cowboys’ luxury buses and began a 45-minute trip to the Star in Frisco. As the bus pulled up, Downs stopped to take a photo of the welcome graphic that was playing on the jumbotron in front of the Ford Center, reading: “Welcome to the Dallas Cowboys, Caleb Downs.” From there, four Ford pickup trucks with Cowboys flags planted in the beds surrounded the bus, escorting it to the atrium of the Star.<\/p>\n
The only two individuals to receive any kind of escort to the Star in the last week? Downs and former US President Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n
With dozens of television camera waiting, Downs stepped off the bus and entered his new facility, getting fitted for a pair of Lucchese boots and stopping to look at the Cowboys’ five Lombardi trophies on display.<\/p>\n
“At the end of the day, that’s what we’re striving for,” Downs said as he looked on. “That’s what everybody’s goal is at the beginning of the season. It’s time to put in the work to push towards it.”<\/p>\n
Now, Downs is settling in to Frisco and will hold a press conference will the local media on Friday afternoon. He met Friday with Cowboys DC Christian Parker, DBs coach Derrick Ansley, secondary coach Ryan Smith, OLBs coach Chidera Uzo-Diribe and assistant DL coach Demeitre Brim on his way through the building.<\/p>\n
It hasn’t been common for NFL teams to take players at the safety position as high as the Cowboys took Downs on Thursday night. In his mind, why doesn’t any of that matter?<\/p>\n
“At the end of the day, it’s about people making plays, about playing football. That’s what I am, I’m a football player. I can say that confidently, above anything else, I’m a football player.” Downs said.<\/p>\n
“I make plays on the field. That’s all that matters.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After thanking Jones and the Cowboys, letting out a big yell and hugging his family, Downs began his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[613,230,229,257,2461,94906,7,417,96302,1901,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-873739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-caleb-downs","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-dallascowboys","13":"tag-featured-offseason-2026","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-news-all-news","16":"tag-news-draft-central-2026","17":"tag-news-tommy-yarrish","18":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116461252354657065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873739","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=873739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}