The Cowboys Are VERY INTERESTED In Caleb Downs! - Kris Kretschman Show

The Dallas Cowboys might be on the verge of making some MASSIVE moves in the NFL Draft… and it could completely reshape the future of this defense.

In today’s episode of the Kris Kretschman Show, we react to Peter Schrager’s latest mock draft where the Cowboys select Caleb Downs at pick 12 and Akheem Mesidor at pick 20 — and let’s just say… things get VERY interesting.

We also break down Jordan Reid’s report that the Cowboys could potentially trade UP in the draft to land a defensive star like Caleb Downs or Rueben Bain Jr. 👀 Is Jerry Jones finally ready to be aggressive?

Plus, we set expectations for Christian Parker in his first year as the Cowboys defensive coordinator. What should fans realistically expect, and could this defense take a MAJOR leap?

This episode is packed with draft reactions, bold takes, and what it all means for the Cowboys moving forward.

Make sure to like, subscribe, and drop your thoughts in the comments — would YOU trade up for Caleb Downs?

Transcript

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Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome to the Chris Cratchman Show for Thursday, April 9th, 2026. And on today's episode, I want to talk about Peter Schrager's mock draft and that pretty much being the dream scenario for the Cowboys. I also want to talk about the rumor that Jordan Reed from ESPN put out there today about the Cowboys trading up. And then I want to talk about expectations for Christian Parker in year one and why I think fans need to set their expectations accordingly. But before we get into the episode, please make sure to hit that like button, subscribe. I would greatly appreciate it. And without further ado, let's get into the episode. So I want to talk about Peter Schrager's mock draft and why, honestly, this is the perfect scenario for the Cowboys in this draft. In this mock draft that Peter Schrager had, he had the Cowboys taking Caleb Downs at pick 12, and he had them taking Akeem Mesador at pick 20. And the way I look at this is I did a TikTok the other day and I said, Cowboys dream scenario, that's it right there. Downs at 12, Mesador at 20, because Downs to me is one of the best players in this draft. If he's not the best player, he's one of the best players in this draft. And is it realistic that he's available at pick 12? I've been saying this throughout the entire draft season. I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think Caleb Downs is going to be there at 12. But if he is, it seems like the word around the NFL is that if he's available at pick 12, the Cowboys will absolutely take him. And I think they should. Even though they signed Jalen Thompson this offseason, even though they signed PJ Locke and they re-signed Moey Cooker, they're pretty good at safety right now. To me, this is all about drafting the best players. And even if the best players on the board are an offensive player, I look at the draft a little differently than a lot of people look at the draft. I don't look at what this team needs at the current moment in a draft. I look at what they might need down the line. And what ultimately happens is if you just draft the best players on your board, it all tends to work out. You know, look at the 2022 season, right? Two years prior, CeeDee Lamb gets drafted. And then they go into September of 2022, and CeeDee Lamb was pretty much the only receiver on that football team. Going into that draft, there was Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, especially coming out of that season where the offense was as explosive as it was. People were looking at that duo and saying that's a young duo that's going to dominate the league for the next few years here. And the Cowboys said, hey, look, CeeDee Lamb's on the board. He's the best player on the board. Let's just take the best player on the board and let's just figure it out later. And then two years down the line, it ended up working for them, meaning when I mean working for them, one, they hit on the player, which is the most important thing. Two, the reason why it ended up working for them in that particular situation is because they needed receivers that year. They traded Amari Cooper who had a high salary and they were able to move off that because they had a guy in CD Lamb that they felt confident could be the guy for them. And then, you know, Michael Gallup had the injury and we saw that he didn't recover from that injury. So that's why I believe in taking the best player on the board. And I went on a little bit of a tangent there, and I apologize for that. But, you know, that's the way I look at the draft. So if the best player on the board is an offensive player, as long as it's not an offensive guard, just because I just think you're you're you're too deep at that position. Like if you draft an offensive guard, which by the way, I'm not saying they're going to or they should, where are you going to play him? Like you have BB, Booker, Tyler Smith, and those are guys that are young, that are, you know, either in the prime of their career or entering the prime of their career. It doesn't necessarily make sense to draft a guard there. So that's the one position where I'm like, nope, absolutely not. There's no way you can justify that. Even if you say move Tyler Smith to left tackle, I just don't think he's a left tackle, in my personal opinion. I think he's an outstanding left guard. I think he would be an okay left tackle, but he's not nearly as good at left tackle as he is at left guard. But when you look at this mock draft, Caleb Downs, I mean, he's been the talk of the town all draft season. This is the guy who fans have wanted on their team, and rightfully so. And the thing is, it's not just fans of the Cowboys that want this guy. You're talking about anywhere from the Jets at two to, you know, even going back to every team, not named the Raiders in this draft, pretty much wants this guy. So is he going to be available at 12? That's one thing, right? Because Media Scouts and fans are completely different, right, from the actual NFL front offices, which is why, like, I think Keldrick Falk is going to get drafted before the Cowboys pick. Because teams look at him and they say he has the length, he has the power, he has all the traits that you want in a player. That's Keldrick Falk. And especially when you look at some of the other players in this class, he probably fits their eye a little more. So that's why I think there's a realistic situation that Caleb Downs can be available. And if he is, the Cowboys absolutely have to take him. You have a guy in Christian Parker who you believe can really coach up defensive backs. He has a track record of doing that as a defensive backs coach, but a defensive backs coach and a defensive coordinator are two completely different things. So he has history doing that as a defensive backs coach. Can he do that as a defensive coordinator? I think he can. So you're bringing in maybe the best defensive back in this draft. A lot of people would say yes, he is the best defensive player in this draft. And you're allowing him to be coached by a guy that you really think can make something happen as a defensive coordinator and a defensive coordinator coaching up defensive backs. So yes, that is absolutely the pick there. I mean, he to me is as clean of a prospect as you're gonna get. There was, I believe it was the bear saying that there was something wrong with his knee. Outside of that, like you really haven't heard anything. It was just one team that that red flagged him on that. So that's something that, like, I don't really think you need to be too worried about that, about him having injury concerns. You never know with these processes that goes on. But he wasn't injured. I don't think he missed a single game in college. He didn't miss a game at Ohio State. So unless he has an injury history, I'm not really worried about that, right? So Caleb Downs at pick 12, that would be an awesome pick. Now you go to Mesidore at pick 20 because this is the one that I think is gonna incite a little more conversation and would be a little more divisive. To me, I I don't know why. I don't know why. I don't know why people are so against the idea of the Cowboys drafting Mesidor. At 12, fine, fine. If you want to be against it at 12, I understand that. At pick 20, guys, like I hate to tell you, you're not gonna get a 10-plus sack guy who has a clean bill of health, who has all the measurables, who is 21 years old or 20 years old at pick 20. You're not getting that guy. You need to be in the top five, the top 10 picks if you want that guy, usually in most drafts, right? So that guy's not gonna be there at pick 20, but you're getting a guy in Mezzador who, when you talk about the premium position thing, right? You're quarterbacks, wide receivers, offensive tackles, defensive ends, cornerbacks, he's one of those guys that fits that group. And even though like there are some warts when you talk about the age, right? That's something. Uh, there was some injury concerns being brought about. I believe it was his feet that people were worried about. Um, so like that stuff, yes, there are war warts on this player. He's gonna be a 10-plus sack guy in the league, I think. And yeah, it's not gonna look perfect as a prospect. But if you bring this guy in, I think right away, no doubt about it, this guy is going to be a legitimate guy for this team. And when you look at who he got coached by at Miami, I mean, Jason Taylor, I mean, that's that's a really damn good coach to have. That's somebody that that's obviously a really good teacher there. When you talk about the guys that they have on their team already, you talk about Bain and Mesador, I mean, that was the best pass rushing duo in the entire country this year. So, like, yeah, to me, like he's not the cleanest prospect. But I again, I'm just gonna say this again. You're not gonna get the cleanest prospect at pick 20 who plays a premium position. It's just not gonna happen. So if Mesador is the pick, I think that's an outstanding pick. And when you pair it with Caleb Downs, you got your defensive back and you got your defensive lineman. You need both of those things, and you know, you get that there with uh you get that there with Mesador and Downs at pick 12 and then Mesador at pick 20. It's a nice combination of picks, and and I think Cowboys fans would should be very happy with that duo there, at least with Caleb Downs, right? Like if you get Caleb Downs, to me at pick 20, like obviously you still want to draft a great player, but if you come out of night one with Caleb Downs, I I think that that pick 20, I think fans will be a little less critical about that because it's like, hey, look, you got Caleb Downs, you got maybe the best player in the draft. So yeah, that's something that you know to me, I I look at as a dream scenario. That's what I said when I posted that to my TikTok. This is a dream scenario, that combination of picks. Hey, quick break. Hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please make sure to hit that like button, subscribe. I would greatly appreciate that. On to the next topic. So there was an article from Jordan Reed, Matt Miller, NFL Nation on ESPN.com, and they were talking about the intel that they've gotten from all the teams in the league and where they think they could potentially be going in this upcoming draft. And here's the write-up that he had. So uh the question that he was asking was are the Cowboys definitely going to go defense with both of their first round picks? Here's the write-up. Definitely with Jerry Jones, nothing is definite. The Cowboys know they must address the defense, and the best way to do that is with their two first-round picks. They must find a linebacker, cornerback, and pass rusher in this draft. But the Cowboys had similar defensive needs in 2020 and ended up with receiver CeeDee Lamb in round one. He was a top 10 graded player on their board and too much of a blinking light to pass up and number 17. That's the only scenario where the Cowboys go with an offensive player at either 12 or 20. Now, that was from Todd Archer, that specific write up. I didn't see Todd Archer's name at the end there. That was from Todd Archer. Now, this is from Jordan Reed. He says, uh, what we're hearing about the Cowboys draft, trading up continues to be a possibility, especially if there's a player they have high on their board who backslides a tad. Safety Caleb Downs, Ohio State, and edge rusher Ruben Bain Jr. are believed to be players whom the Cowboys would maneuver for, as Dallas reportedly sees both both as instant impact game changers on defense. Now, what I find to be very interesting is like Caleb Downs, it's very obvious that the Cowboys are interested in Caleb Downs. Why do I say that? Because his name keeps on getting attached to the Cowboys. He came in for a 30 visit. If, you know, if the light is blinking, it's blinking. Like we don't need to talk about it anymore. They're obviously very interested in Caleb Downs. But are they so interested in the point that they're going to trade up for Caleb Downs? I think that's a real possibility. I think that the Cowboys are going to trade up in this draft. You know, because I know people talk about you want to trade back, you want to trade back, you want to trade back. And I get it. I got it. All good. Like trading back so you can get more picks, awesome. But I don't think people really understand what they're saying when they say they want to trade back. When you say you want to trade back, that means that players that you want are off the board. Because if there are players that you wanted, you would not be trading back. If Caleb Downs is at pick 12, is anybody talking about trading back? That should not be the first thing that comes into your mind is trading back. Because if you're trading back, it's because nobody is on the board that you feel like it's worth taking at your spot in particular. So you're trading back so that you could get a what you would think is a worse player than what is available at pick 12, right? So you could get more draft picks. I I get why it's appealing to people, but I always say, okay, trading back is great, but you're only trading back because there's there's a player that there's not a player that you think is worth drafting at that particular pick. Now, you could get the Cowboys situation like they did in 2024, where they had a slew of players that they were comfortable drafting. They slid back a little bit, picked up an extra third-round pick, and then they drafted a player that they would have been comfortable taking, I believe it was at pick 24 they had that year. So in that situation, fine, but understand like if you're trading back from pick 12, it's because uh Downs, Bailey, Delane, Reese, Styles, all those guys are off the board. And if all those guys are off the board, now you're not adding a blue chip prior to this defense, right? Unless you believe Mesador is that guy. I think Mesador could absolutely be that type of guy, but I'm just saying, like, what the general consensus would look at that and say is you're not adding a blue chip prior to your defense. And if you want to trade back, that's the point. But that's besides the point. You know, everybody keeps talking, you know, there's a lot of whispers. McShay was saying, now I just want people to understand what McShay was saying. McShea was not saying that that the Cowboys are going to move up to pick three to take David Bailey, right? He's not saying that. He was just like, yeah, these are some things that I heard. Maybe, maybe it could happen. But then you hear some people say, hey, maybe they could trade up to six. You heard Jordan Reed, he was on with my guy uh Footsteking. He was saying that maybe they trade up to pick nine or pick ten or pick eight or one of those picks. But the conversation is the same. The Cowboys want to trade up in this draft. And I think that's completely fine. I think if you really want to add a blue chip player to this defense, you got to trade up in this draft. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Would it beat a six? I I'm okay. I'm okay with trading up to six. If that trade scenario that people have been talking about where the Cowboys get six and 39 and they trade 12 and 20, completely fine with that. Because I don't think the players that you're gonna find at pick 39 compared to pick 20 are all that dissimilar. But I think the player, at least on the defensive side of the ball, that you can get at pick six, way different than what you get at pick 12. Now, Ruben Bane is interesting because you know there is some stuff there that's that's for somebody else to report on, but there is some things that people have been talking about behind the scenes that may cause Ruben Bane to drop. So pay attention to that when it comes to talking about Ruben Bane. Um, maybe that's a guy that could be there at pick 12. I could say this with you know just some of the things that you've heard, I think Jerry Jones would still be completely fine with drafting him. Maybe not every general manager, but Jerry Jones in particular would be okay with drafting him. Um, but yeah, that's where this is interesting. The conversation about Dallas trading up, you don't hear them, you know, yeah, I think they're open for business when it comes to trading back, but I think if you gave me, you know, uh uh if you gave me a test like, hey, what do you think the Cowboys are gonna do? Trade up, trade back, and I send it out to a lot of people. I think a majority would be trade up. I think that's what you're looking at here because a lot of the names that you're hearing are 30 visits. You talk about Downs, you talk about Reese, you talk about Styles, those guys. You're not, you're probably not picking those guys at pick 12. So you're you're gonna be in a situation where you're probably gonna have to trade up for those guys. So that would lend to them probably trading up in this draft. And again, if you add one of those type of guys to your defense, I think that's what you need more than adding. Like, I like Dylan Dieneman. I think Dylan Dieneman could be an excellent piece for this defense. I've talked about it. What Cooper DeGene is to the Eagles, that could be Dylan Dieneman for the Cowboys, right? And now obviously it's not a one-for-one comparison because they play differently, right? Dylan Dieneman is a guy who plays more so over the top. Cooper DeGene more so plays in the slot, but I think Dylan Dieneman can come down and play in the slot. I think he can do that. I don't think he's as good as a tackler. I'm not trying to get into a whole comparison between the two players, but I think you get what I'm saying. You know, would you want to draft a guy like that at pick 12? I would be okay with it. In this draft, I would be okay with it. But overall, like when you look at some of the players on the board, I would be I would be much more okay with the Cowboys trading up and going and getting downs. And yeah, maybe you got to uh sit back there at 39 and and see what happens there. But I I think there's some players that could be really interesting there at 39, right? Because it it really depends on who you draft at pick six. If you go up and you get Caleb Downs or you go up and you get Mansur Dwayne, you probably want to pair that with a you know defensive lineman. There's gonna be guys that could potentially be on the board when you're talking about R. Mason Thomas at pick 39 or Melo Height, guys like that that could really get after the quarterback. And I think that that would be a nice combination of picks, right? So again, the conversation, it's all similar. It's all about they're probably gonna trade up compared to trading back in this draft. Hey, quick break. Hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please make sure to hit that like button, subscribe. I would greatly appreciate that. On to the next topic. So I want to finish the episode by talking about Christian Parker and the year one expectations for Christian Parker. And I kind of want fans to just adjust their expectations a little bit. It's not gonna look perfect to start this thing out, right? So I don't know how many people play golf, but I'll make this analogy. When you first start playing golf and you, you know, get with the instructor or a teacher, whatever it may be, people who really know golf will tell you do everything that instructor tells you to do. And anything that he tells you to do with your swing, do it. Even if that means when you go out and play, you're shooting a 125 or a 130. It is what it is. Because over time, if you continue to do those things, it's gonna feel more natural. It's gonna, it's gonna be the way it needs to be, and you're gonna be playing better golf because of it. It's the same thing here. It's not gonna be perfect at first. These guys are playing like that and any of the guys that are still on the team are going to be playing a completely different defense than they played previously, especially like you go from Dan Quinn to Mike Zimmer to Matt Iberflus to now Christian Parker. Things are gonna be different. But that doesn't mean that it's gonna be a bad thing. Like, all I'm saying is from weeks one to week six, seven, eight, around that time, just be a little patient. There's gonna be mistakes being made. Christian Parker has never called a full NFL game. Yes, there might be situations within games where he might have called a player or two, but in terms of like a whole game where you're talking about game flow and dialing things up, that's completely different. Like he has not done that yet. And until he does that, I don't think we could sit here and place uh like the world on this guy in terms of expectations. You know, I I see a lot of people are very high on the guy, and I am too. I think he's gonna be a really good coach. I think I think he's gonna be the type of defensive coordinator that we're talking two, three years down the line, he's gonna be up for head coaching jobs. But right away, it's it's it's not gonna be perfect. I don't think it's gonna be perfect. If it is, awesome. I would love that. But I just want people to set the expectations properly so that way if the likely scenario comes out and it's a defense that, yeah, you can tell fundamentally they're better, but it still looks a certain type of way. I don't want to go on X and see people saying terrible higher, this, that, and the third, overrated. No, it's gonna take some time. Calling please is extremely difficult. Calling pleas in the NFL is extremely difficult. Being a coordinator is completely different than being a defensive box coach. That's why Al Harris can't get a defensive coordinator job in the NFL because it's completely different. Hell, if you're an Ohio State fan like me, you know Brian Hartline was the best position coach in the entire country. Look at some of the receivers he put in the league. Chris Olave, Marvin Harrison, uh, you know, he's putting more guys in the league with Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate. I mean, there's so many guys uh from Ohio State that are playing at a high level. Garrett Wilson, all these guys coached up by Brian Hartlein. And then he becomes the offensive coordinator and he calls plays, and it looks weird because he is a position coach at heart. He's not a play caller. Some defensive, some coaches, offensive, defense are just they they they fit in their role really well, and they're a master in their role, and they're not meant to get a promotion and be the next rank, right? Some defensive coordinators, some offensive coordinators are great defensive and offensive coordinators. And then they go and they become head coaches, and you could tell they're in over their head. But if they're an if they're a defensive or an offensive coordinator, they're outstanding because the roles are different. You can be great in your role and not be great in the next role. There's some guys, you know, you see, that are offensive coordinators, and then they become head coaches or defensive coordinators and they become head coaches, and it's just seamless. That's not every coach. And that's where I'm trying to get at here. I'm not, I don't think that Christian Parker is one of those guys that can't take on the next step. Especially like when you hear some of the things about him with how organized and how detailed he is, and all that, all that is great. And and I think he's gonna be great. I uh, you know, I don't think there's any limit or ceiling to what he can be. All I'm saying is let's just wait a little bit and see it before we go out here and talk about this guy like he's the next Vic Fangio or you know, Steve Spagnola. What makes those coaches great is their experience. What makes Steve Spagnola great is his experience. What makes Vic Fan Vic Fangio great is his experience. All these guys are experienced guys. Like those guys are experienced guys. Uh uh Vance Joseph, what makes him great? Experience. Todd Bowles, when he was a defensive coordinator. Made him great experience. All these guys. You know, yes, there are some guys. Chris Shula from the Rams, Jeff Halfley from the, he was with the Packers last year. He's with the Dolphins now, he's their head coach. Mike McDonald, you want Christian Parker to be like those guys, right? Um, but again, I I just want to set the right expectations on him compared to like people thinking he's gonna be Vic Fangio day one. No, it's not that. You're gonna see a similar type of defense to what Vic Fangio runs. And again, I say all this to say I still believe in the guy. I think he's gonna be a great defensive coordinator, but we have to give it time before we can just jump out and say, you know, he's gonna be this, he's gonna be that. Or if the defense struggles at first, you want to look for for you want to look for things within the tape that make you say that's better. Like Guyton this year was a better player than Guyton as a rookie because you saw things on tape that were better, and that's what you want this defense to be. You want to watch the tape and you want to say, okay, they're not they're not great yet, but they're doing things better. The problems that you had with some of the communication on the back end, they're communicating better on the back end, they're able to get after the quarterback better. There's blitz packages, they're able to scheme up pressure, things like that is where you want to see improvement. And again, you know, yes, the results over 18 weeks, and if they make the playoffs, that'll be important. But I don't want people to look at it from a micro perspective when the season starts. Give it some time and allow this guy to really grow into that role. So that's going to be it for the Chris Cratchman show for April 9th, 2026. Uh, if you guys could please make sure to hit that like button, subscribe. I would greatly appreciate it. And I will see you guys on the next episode.