Cowboys Trade Up for Safety Caleb Downs

0:00It's April 24th. This is Dallas News Today, AI-powered stories from your city. I'm Corey with the story. The Dallas Cowboys shook things up in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft, trading up from the 12th spot to 11th, with the Miami. Dolphins. They gave up two fifth round picks to snaggle high-o-stay safety Caleb Downs, skipping bigger jumps they were rumored for. This move fixed their plan to rebuild the secondary from the ground up, pairing Downs with their new free agent, Jalen Thompson, for what looks like. Their strongest safety tandem in years. Fans and analysts are buzzing with an A-plus grade on the pick, praising Downs as a high football IQ leader who communicates like a coach on the field. He fixes last season's chaos where the back end struggled with alignments and coverages, and he can play anywhere, box, deep or nickel. It's a break from Jerry Jones tradition too. They hadn't drafted a safety since 2002 when they took Roy Williams and now they're shelling.

1:00At $11 million a year, for Thompson to back Christian Parker's vision. Next up, the Cowboys pick a 20th overall, probably grabbing another defender to keep stacking that unit strong.