For a while it seemed like everybody sort of forgot about Caleb Downs.
This seemed impossible right after the Dallas Cowboys drafted him. Downs was the story for the team, so much so that wars were being fought on the internet about how a veteran on the team should forfeit his jersey number so that Downs could have the one that he wanted.
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However you felt about that, the Downs hype sort of cooled as training camp wore on. To be clear this wasn’t about Downs in any way, but other storylines developed. The Cowboys have a lot of new faces on their team this season, specifically on the defensive side of the ball, and as football fans were are often distracted by the shiniest object at any given moment in time.
Downs reminded everyone who he is during the season opener, though.
We have speculated/known for a long time that the Cowboys are going to use Downs in a variety of ways. To be clear this is a good idea. He is enormously talented and can do tons of different things. Benefit from that however you can.
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Last week is a good example of this (it is admittedly the only actual example from his career to date, obviously). Dallas lined Downs up in the slot on 29 of his 60 defensive snaps (including 26 snaps when the team was in nickel), all data here is from NFL Pro, and gave him three pass rush attempts on New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart.
That last bit is particularly important. Downs is a defensive back. He is not a pass rusher. His true value may not wind up being in the slot anyway. We are still figuring this out.
But consider that of his three pass rush attempts that Downs generated a pressure on each of them. He had the sack and forced fumble that everybody saw, and according to Zebra Technologies it was actually the fastest sack that any player in Week 1 recorded (2.49 seconds). You don’t have to get home every time, though. If you are generating pressures then you are causing disruption which the rest of the team stands to benefit from.
This was the first game in which a Cowboys defensive back recorded at least three pressures in a game since Donovan Wilson did it in Week 3 of 2022, coincidentally also against the Giants. This isn’t to say that Downs has to have a certain number of pass rushes a game, but it is to say that he has to do everything. Play nickel. Rush the passer. Drop back and play safety.
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It may seem intense to assign this much responsibility to a rookie, but if there were ever one who has earned that so early on it is him. Plus, why throw out some hypothetical point in time where it is believed he will be more “ready” than he is now? Does anyone seriously believe that he can’t handle that type of responsibility/usage now?
There are a number of ways to lean into Downs as noted, but the point is that each and every one of them has to be explored and as often as possible.
