00:00and it is time now to be joined by a national champion a unanimous all-american the guy who
00:07won the lot impact trophy and jim thorpe award as the nation's top defensive player in 2025
00:1511th overall pick of your cowboys caleb downs with you here on 105.3 the fan and a good afternoon
00:22sir how the heck are you doing well how are you we're doing wonderful uh thank you uh it's great
00:28to chat with you congratulations and all that but how was today and uh and with the start of the
00:34offseason work what was your first monday as a cowboy like uh honestly i'm not in dallas right
00:42now oh we had a little bit of a lot of time before we start rookie minicamp so uh i'm
00:46in columbus so
00:47just doing my own stuff here training a little bit so that's been uh it was good today though for
00:53that
00:54how was that putting rematch with shoddy
00:59it's never good to lose so uh we're one and one though um i'll let y'all know that the
01:05series score
01:06whenever uh whenever i get back on top of it that's how we're gonna leave it was it a misread
01:14on your part it looked like you left it a little little left did you did you think that did
01:19you
01:19you you hung it out there uh broke a little quicker than you thought huh yeah the end broke
01:25a little quicker it it was moving right to left but it didn't move much yeah i was i was
01:31thinking
01:31like i played just right center yeah and then uh it moved a little bit more than i thought at
01:38the end
01:38so but it is what it is didn't end up going my way we'll get it back though it's all
01:43good you'll
01:44you'll learn the speeds of these greens once you get to texas i know you're doing football full
01:47time but i'm happy you like to play golf and stuff you'll enjoy the places here when you have
01:52some free time for sure sure i'm looking forward to it we're pumped to have you man i mean i
01:57think
01:57that uh anyone with a brain could tell you're one of the best players in this draft class and the
02:02vision that christian parker has for you how would you describe your role in the defense from your
02:06understanding so far yeah i would say uh being able to use all my talents and be able to make
02:14an
02:14impact on the field whether that's uh close to the box in the deep part of the field um just
02:19being
02:20able to be uh multiple and make plays in the defense i would say that's the best way to describe
02:25it
02:25here's a here's a weird question watching your tape uh i mean you're just so obviously intelligent
02:31did you ever get bored when you were playing in college yeah i'll honestly say yeah
02:39in what situations ball not coming your way uh maybe the talent may not be as good that week
02:48you don't play uh you always don't play high level talent every week in college so
02:52that's just something that you have to get used to and sometimes those games are
02:58they can get boring just because the fact of you play a team that doesn't have as good of a
03:03d
03:03line i mean on the offensive line your d line would pretty much make all the tackles
03:08and everything like that so you really wouldn't be much to do those games so just get bored of not
03:14being in action yeah caleb i i'm fascinated by your choice when you went to alabama the and i know
03:20being an nfl scout for 13 years and coach saban i mean he was at lsu won a national championship
03:26so i
03:26have the utmost respect for coach but usually defensive backs don't go and play with one of the toughest
03:33defensive back coaches in in the country and you chose to to do that your decision to to go and
03:39be with coach saban yeah i mean for me it was i wanted to chase great greatness and i still
03:46want
03:46to do that uh at the highest level so that's what i want to do with my life um so
03:50for me it's i found
03:52being around greatness is the best way to learn from it so um i wanted to try to be around
03:57great
03:58people that have achieved at a high level and that was coach saban so that's why i wanted to go
04:03there
04:03and then uh when that ended up when he ended up retiring and everything he did um i had to
04:10make a
04:10different decision and uh pivot and do that and go to our state well he is tough on those he's
04:17tough on
04:17those defensive backs though he is tough you can watch him with practices you guys you catch an earful
04:22though right oh most definitely i mean he doesn't hold his tongue yeah definitely when it comes to
04:28the to the db so he uh but i i respected it because it's uh it's out of love and
04:35he wants everybody to
04:35get better uh so just knowing that and always wanting to push myself to get better you can
04:41appreciate it it's caleb downs here with you on the fan are are you a guy that's always looking for
04:46more work more ways to study the game yeah i mean that's that's how you learn that's how you get
04:53better um i see myself as a learner in all facets of life so i'm just trying to push myself
04:59to get
04:59better in relationships and my faith and finances and just whatever i can do there i'll be a better
05:06person are you going to make a push for number two or are you looking at other options what do
05:11you
05:11think uh we will see that's what i'll leave it at we will so what was your approach in the
05:19draft
05:20process i we kept hearing how nfl teams were just blown away with you coming in and knowing that
05:27particular team's defense their scheme their adjustments and talking to them about how you fit
05:32into their defense how how did you go about that particular approach yeah i mean just trying to be
05:40myself honestly i feel like um at the end of the day you can only really be yourself um and
05:45people
05:45will be able to read that if you're if you're not being authentic so really just try to be myself
05:50and
05:50who i was and then um try to show my knowledge of the game at the end of the day
05:54that's that's what the
05:56the interviews are for um you're you're trying to share your knowledge and be able to have them
06:02trust you to be able to run their defense one day has that football iq always been like a superpower
06:07of
06:07yours do you feel like even at a young age you were kind of seeing the game a little bit
06:10differently or did that level up when you got with a saban or patricia uh i think definitely
06:17uh was a god-given ability i can't say that i i earned that right to be able to see
06:22the game
06:22at the way that i do um but it's definitely gotten better and honed in a more um with the
06:28coaches that
06:28i've been around so um that's why i appreciate it so much from allowing me to learn from uh especially
06:34coach patricia this past year just allowing me to learn ball favorite thing to do is uh hit somebody
06:38like just absolute like you just got jacked up on espn or get the interception
06:46i mean it's definitely more uh
06:55it's a tough one honestly i mean like i'm definitely gonna say like the interception like that's that's
07:00what i want and that's what um that's what's best uh but making a big hit it's kind of a
07:07it's a
07:07feeling you can't really can't really replicate what would you say to the people that are like
07:14man i'm watching caleb downs and all this plays are around the line of scrimmage and they're
07:17questioning your ability and coverage i think if you go back and you see alabama like i don't have
07:22any questions about that whatsoever but for fans out there that might say all right that that's one
07:27area of his game that i'd scrutinize how would you respond uh i mean i would say in college i
07:35was
07:35trying to be around the ball so if the ball wasn't on the deep part of the field if the
07:39ball wasn't
07:40getting thrown um to my man i can't necessarily do anything about that but um i made the plays that
07:46i had to come to me that's what that's what i was trying to do in college um just make
07:50the plays
07:50that were there and not seeing to make plays that necessarily are somebody else's um and i can't
07:56control if the ball doesn't come to me um all i can do is my job when uh whenever i
08:00get a chance
08:01to cover somebody one-on-one or cover somebody in deep other fields um so yeah i mean they saw
08:09the
08:09plays that the coach teamed up for me to make i would say sure the caleb you people are there's
08:15always this talk about positional value in the nfl and like oh we're not going to take safeties and
08:20all that and i was trying to describe you as a player like this guy is just not a safety
08:25he plays
08:27all these different positions for you so am i fair to say you're not a safety you're just a
08:32you're a weapon on defense for someone to use yeah i would say uh i'm a defensive player okay being
08:40able
08:41to play and near the line of scrimmage being able to play in the second level third level
08:44um being able to do a lot of different things that allows um you say a weapon i would just
08:50say
08:50um a full rounded player okay so if you're a full rounded player that can make plays on
08:56all facets of your defense and make your defense better um that's who you want on your team not
09:02necessarily just oh i want somebody to be able to set the edge that's great but if he doesn't
09:07necessarily make the play then it doesn't matter right right uh i feel like at the end of the day
09:12you want playmakers uh and that's what that's what i have so it's caleb downs here with you on the
09:18fan you know caleb uh college seems you know it is a lot of fun right and and now in
09:24college
09:25you can get compensated for playing did you consider staying uh and and continuing your
09:31collegiate career at all how much went into that yeah i mean for me uh honestly i didn't think about
09:38it much um the goal for me was never to stay in college um so that wasn't really much of
09:45a ploy
09:45and i felt like i had uh accomplished everything i needed to and um in college so it wasn't necessarily
09:51like that big of a draw for me because i felt like i need i did everything i needed to
09:55do
09:55and um yeah the goal wasn't to just play in college so um always wanted to aspire to do more
10:04your dreams has has always been the nfl
10:09no i mean just yeah to to be a high level player and be uh have a great career yes
10:19what what do you think is the toughest thing about the jump to the nfl level
10:25toughest thing about the jump to the nfl level uh i mean i'm sure like can't necessarily know that
10:31just because um you haven't played any type of ball yet so um in terms of that we'll see but
10:38i would say for a lot of guys probably just being able to find a routine in yourself um college
10:43is
10:44very scripted for players so anybody that can find a routine and stick to it and put themselves in a
10:49position to win uh i feel like that's those are the players that have more success early we've had a
10:55lot of talks locally about the green dot and who's communicating the defense you definitely
11:00seem to do that at a high level wherever you've been at oh at ohio state at alabama so what
11:06do
11:06what's your approach communicating lining up everybody pre-snap especially in a complex type
11:10of scheme like cp might be running yeah uh i mean at the end of the day 50 of our
11:18job as defenders
11:19is communication uh so i feel like i can do that at a high level um especially getting people lined
11:24up
11:24and being able to see the full well-rounded defense so i would say yeah i can do that at
11:29a high level
11:29and if that's what's asking me um that's what it's going to get that's what's going to get done
11:34did you have a favorite safety in the nfl you like watching or maybe that you grew up watching
11:39uh i mean i grew up in the in the seattle seahawks um 2012 2013 when they had um the
11:47legion of boom
11:47so i would say i used to love watching ero thomas i love it man and you've played it you've
11:52played at
11:52at at&t stadium i got to watch you uh versus miami i'm sure you've played there quite a bit
11:57how do you
11:57like playing at the uh at the cowboys stadium oh my goodness it's beautiful uh i was a i was
12:04a big
12:04fan of it the first time this time it didn't go my way so we're not gonna after that game
12:10but
12:10uh i mean it was still a good stadium to play in and everything like that so
12:18what uh what was the craziest road environment you ever played in in college
12:26uh i'm gonna say oregon my sophomore year that was a that was probably the uh
12:34the most intense road environment i played in where uh it was very
12:38i was wondering how the offense is operating honestly
12:44i felt bad for him i was like hey i don't know if y'all gonna be that good today
12:48we're gonna have
12:49to make something happen what's that green room experience like at the draft when you're waiting
12:53to get the call then you get the call you go you go give roger goodell a hug i mean
12:57take us
12:58what's that experience like for you uh yeah i mean honestly it's a lot of uh when you're sitting
13:06there waiting it's a lot of antsy um anxiousness that's there because at the end of the day you're
13:13there to get picked and nobody likes sitting there waiting um and showing patience so yeah i would
13:17say a little antsy but at the end of the day when you get that call you feel uh blessed
13:22and joyful
13:23um you feel highly favored and um he's very thankful to be there in the moment
13:29what do you think of being a cowboy one of the most polarizing teams in all of sports
13:34did you like the cowboys what what do you think of them yeah i mean i can't say like i
13:39grew up being a
13:40cowboys fan sure um being from atlanta that wasn't necessarily um the team that was there but
13:46i uh i mean i always respect um people that went at a high level um they wanted a high
13:51level back
13:52uh back in the day so i would say just i always respect the winners and uh jerry jones has
13:58done
13:58a good job branding the team and everything and they have a great brand to be a part of so
14:02i'm excited to be a part of it and uh do my part appreciate you man congratulations welcome to the
14:08cowboys and give them hell we'll be pulling for you i appreciate that man you have a good one too
14:13there he goes caleb downs cowboys rookie safety with you here on your home of the cowboys
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