The Dallas Cowboys ended up with Caleb Downs with their first pick during the 2026 NFL Draft. It never gets old to say or write that.
As we all know, it took the Cowboys to be a little aggressive to get Downs completely. Dallas was originally ranked 12th when the draft began and had to send two fifth-round picks to the Miami Dolphins (177th and 180th overall, compensatory picks the Cowboys received) to move up one spot and secure their player. Hopefully we can tell that story many times in the future about how everything turned out wonderfully.
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We continue to learn more and more about how the Cowboys had eyes for Downs. The upward exchange clearly demonstrates this.
The Cowboys tried to make a trade with Cleveland
In the lead-up to the draft, there were many analysts theorizing that the Cowboys could trade with the Cleveland Browns. That’s when Cleveland was at No. 6, but early in the draft they made a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs and then kept the No. 9 overall pick. This is where the Cowboys wanted to move forward.
ESPN released a documentary Sunday night, “The Pick Is In,” chronicling all sorts of events throughout the 2026 NFL Draft. Stephen Jones was shown calling Browns general manager Andrew Berry and discussing sending the 12th and 20th picks to Cleveland in exchange for the 9th and 24th. Cleveland refused.
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Stephen offered to throw in a fifth-round pick — Dallas had three of them at the time — but the Browns still turned him down. The Browns sat down and drafted offensive lineman Spencer Fano and Stephen pontificated that they wanted to stay ahead of the New York Giants given how badly they wanted an offensive lineman. He was proven right when the Giants selected Francis Mauigoa, making Downs’ selection at number 11 possible.
Speaking of which, 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 which they gave up on.
It’s interesting to see how aggressive the Cowboys were willing to be to get their guy. Obviously this is all more fun because it worked and the Cowboys put an end to so many things we’re fans of.