00:00I hope that you didn't buy that initial Caleb Downs jersey because he's already changed it.
00:06We're going to number 13 ahead of Cowboy OTAs, according to our boy Tommy Yarsh, DallasCowboys.com.
00:14The Cowboys Pro Shop has that there.
00:16Caleb Downs, number 13.
00:19Tommy points out numbers are always subject to change from now until the start of the regular season.
00:25So John Owning and others, and I know some of it is a little bit playful,
00:30but it doesn't get very playful when you're talking about protecting the new golden child.
00:35People are going to Kobe Durant.
00:37Kobe Durant has Caleb Downs' Ohio State number.
00:43And basically the sentiment is, what are you doing, Kobe?
00:46You're not going to give it up. Just get out of town already.
00:49And I got so worried for Kobe Durant on social media that I went and looked up whether he had
00:54it.
00:55And this could be an instance of where, if you want Caleb Downs to get his number,
01:01because he's your new Cowboy, Miho, if you know, you know,
01:06harassing Kobe Durant on his Twitter or Instagram,
01:10maybe it leads to him just giving it up versus a Caleb Downs negotiation.
01:14But I will admit, and I was a little bit, I didn't want to deal.
01:17I had my daughter's birthday yesterday, so I didn't want to deal with all this on social the rest of
01:21the night.
01:22But I did think, and I almost tweeted,
01:25Yo, tough S.
01:28Tough S.
01:30Kobe's a vet.
01:31He gets the number.
01:32This is the way it goes.
01:34If Caleb wants it that badly, he's got to pay up.
01:36But Cowboy Nation wants Durant to just give it up and let Caleb get settled in to his usual threads.
01:45I don't believe that he will end up being this way.
01:49Because we talked about what's the...
01:50Being number 13?
01:51No, no.
01:52Like, what's the scale for his ability?
01:55220 according to choppy.
01:56What's his floor?
01:57What's his ceiling?
01:58That kind of thing.
01:59I don't believe this.
02:01But we talked about his floor could be he's Malik Hooker.
02:03Like, that's...
02:04If everything goes wrong and he's a little bit of a disappointment, that's what he is.
02:07Malik Hooker, when he came into the league, would have had people go,
02:10Give Malik Hooker his number!
02:12And then there would have been a thought of, like,
02:14He's got to earn the number.
02:15Relax, guys.
02:16I'm just not handing over my number to him.
02:18Same sort of thing here.
02:19And I think Caleb Downs would, if he's not going to pay for it, would also recognize...
02:22He may be annoyed by it, but he'd also recognize, like,
02:24Alright, whatever.
02:25Got to earn it.
02:25It's a vet's number right now.
02:27Even if he's a little irritated by it.
02:29Which he clearly didn't like 18.
02:31If he flipped so quick to 13.
02:32But, the weird thing about Durant is, when I'm going and looking up his Rams photos,
02:38He's wearing 14.
02:40So, it's not even like...
02:41I don't know whether he switched to 2 at some point in time,
02:44But, that makes it even more irritating for the Caleb Downs fans.
02:48You...
02:48This isn't even a lifelong number for you.
02:51You came on over here and took number 2.
02:53You were 14 in LA.
02:54Who was...
02:55So, let me look over there.
02:56Do they have a number 2 that's just...
02:58Uh...
02:59No.
02:59Okay.
02:59That's a nobody, really, that has number 2.
03:01So, I don't know why he didn't have number 2.
03:03Because, I was just thinking, like, maybe he was holding on to that for...
03:06Or, waiting for that opportunity to be able to take 2.
03:08But...
03:09He was 14 in college, too, in South Carolina.
03:12But, I don't know why he picked 2.
03:13But, unless he couldn't have 14 here, I have no clue.
03:16But...
03:16Because he's the number 2 corner.
03:18That's what it is.
03:19He's coming here to do that.
03:20It's...
03:21I...
03:22I...
03:22I think I'd like to...
03:23Caleb Downs fine, if he wants to have 2.
03:25They should all be wearing 20s through 40s.
03:27This would all be fixed.
03:28Because all the college DBs wear single digits.
03:30And then when they get to the NFL, if they're wearing 20s, nobody has to worry about them
03:33not getting their number.
03:34It wouldn't be fixed if the 20-something number that Downs wanted was worn by Kobe Durant.
03:38But, we wouldn't have such a, that's been his number.
03:41Give it to him.
03:42Because, 2 wouldn't be allowed to be taken here.
03:44You would do, like, I still say, the number 1 number he should wear at the NFL is 20.
03:49That's what he should wear.
03:50Because that was Mike Doss.
03:52Mike Doss was 2 at Ohio State.
03:54Same sort of build.
03:55Ended up being a bust.
03:56Explain how your tism kicked in for this.
03:58Yeah, it kicked in really bad.
03:59So, I have...
04:00I've got really bad spectrum brain when it comes to football numbers and what you should wear.
04:07And what I think, not just that, not your position, but what you as a player should wear.
04:10And I've got 20 as the top choice.
04:13Okay?
04:13Because Mike Doss looked like a badass safety, but he didn't play like one.
04:17He was 2 at Ohio State.
04:18He was 20 in the NFL.
04:20And he was the same sort of build.
04:22He was like 5'10", 206 or something like that.
04:25So, it's like, alright, you get to close that up.
04:28I'd love that.
04:29I think 25 would look nice.
04:32It's a nice, elegant, it's symmetrical look.
04:34Kind of looks like it's mirroring itself.
04:36That's a good one.
04:3742 would be good.
04:38I want to erase the memory of Darren Sharper as the 42 safety that I'm aware of.
04:4233 would look good as like a bang-bang number, but 22 would look bad.
04:46Can't have it anyway.
04:4744 would look bad.
04:48So, that's just kind of, in my head, I just think, what should you wear?
04:51When I was a kid, I thought of safeties as being back into the 30s or early 40s.
04:57So, I thought of like 38, 41, 42.
04:59That's what I thought of safeties being.
05:01Yeah.
05:01So, it's hard for me to shake that from my brain.
05:03And I'd just like to see him not wear a single digit or not an ugly ass number like 13,
05:08which
05:08just looks like a broken 18.
05:10Is there anyone on the equipment staff, secondary coach who gets involved here and is like, Kobe,
05:19this isn't going to be great for you.
05:22Or you just go ahead and let them settle it out if Downs wants to bring out the wallet.
05:25Hell, though.
05:26The talk is to Downs.
05:28It's not to Durant.
05:29The talk is to Downs of like, tough.
05:33Is that how you feel about it?
05:35Yeah.
05:36You're not like, come on, Kobe, just give it up.
05:37No, no, no.
05:38Like, I mean, there's the whole routine of you carry the pads and you do different things.
05:43Like, there's tradition within the NFL and within NFL locker rooms that all of them are
05:47going to go, I had to do it.
05:49You got to do it.
05:50And so, like, if you want that number, you either pay up for it, like Brandon Nimmo did
05:53with his Rolex watch that he gave out to somebody who, I mean, how many games that he played?
05:58Like, he was in Major League Baseball for like half a season when Brandon Nimmo gave him
06:04that watch.
06:05So, yeah, I think the talk goes to Caleb Downs.
06:08It says, you either pay for the number or you tough it out.
06:11On the fan text, 877-881-1053, 806 says you could wear number 11 because it looks like
06:17a Roman numeral number 2.
06:19682 says Caleb Downs should wear 28 in honor of Woody to start the tradition.
06:24Like, 88903 says he should absolutely give up his number 2.
06:29And 817 and 214 both say, why didn't Downs just do number 22?
06:33Well, because it's Emmett's.
06:35And that's the thing.
06:35It's a weird inconsistency about the Cowboys.
06:38They want 88 carrying on.
06:39They want 94 carrying on.
06:41They do not let you wear 8.
06:42They do not let you wear 22.
06:45Hmm.
06:45They'll let you wear it in training camp, but 12, for instance, Starbucks number has never
06:49been given out.
06:50They don't officially retire it, but I don't think there's been, if there has, it's only
06:55been a handful of people that have worn 74.
06:57Bob Lilly's number doesn't get handed out very often.
06:59And so there's some of them are like unofficially retired.
07:01Others that they're like, this is a legacy.
07:02I think Woody's one where they generally don't want to give it out.
07:06Friend of the show, Ross Tucker, was on the Gbag Nation yesterday talking about the Caleb
07:11Downs impact.
07:12Well, so I was really surprised he didn't go until 11.
07:17You know, I thought I had several people tell me they thought he was the best football player
07:21in the draft.
07:22Now, you know, there's always a discussion about positional value and how much the safeties
07:28make versus like an edge rusher.
07:30And we can have that conversation.
07:32And there's also, you know, the idea of how much upside does he have physical ability,
07:40right?
07:40He's not the Arbel Reese or the Sonny Stiles or some of these other guys.
07:45But, man, he looks to me like I would not be surprised if he makes the Pro Bowl this year.
07:52He has uncommon instincts and football intelligence.
07:58And the longer I'm around it and the more coaches I talk to and just the more ball I watch,
08:06linebacker and safety, so much of those two positions are just your brain and how you think
08:13the game.
08:14And this kid for three years was way ahead of the game.
08:19I mean, I did his game for CBS, Alabama Ole Miss, when he was a true freshman against
08:25Jackson Dart and those receivers.
08:27And he was already one of the best defensive players they had.
08:31The point is, is the kid is a prodigy.
08:34And if you look and you read any of those books, the guys that are always prodigies, they tend
08:41to be prodigies.
08:42So, I think he's going to come into the NFL and make some major noise right away and help
08:48make that entire back end be better.
08:52Yeah, it's interesting.
08:54He is talking about it.
08:55Prodigy is a good word for it.
08:56And I hadn't thought of it that way.
08:58But he is...
08:59I thought of it.
08:59I just didn't say.
09:00That's sort of how the game has talked about him.
09:05The fact that when we played the clip from Eric Ellenworth, their Southeast area scout,
09:08he's saying, I was hearing about him as a senior in high school, like, this dude is
09:11going to be the next one at safety in the NFL.
09:14Like, the fact that that chatter exists, that's a lot to live up to.
09:17And he's lived up to it every single step of the way.
09:19And Ryan Day, who's the head coach at Ohio State, he certainly believes it.
09:23So, over to ESPN, they did a...
09:25Reached out to various college coaches for, give us your thoughts on the draft, where guys
09:29went, who you think got steals, various things like that.
09:32And Ryan Day wanted to give feedback on the Caleb Downs pick.
09:35And he said, I don't think there was any doubt that he was a generational player talking to
09:38different clubs.
09:39The feedback we got in his interviews.
09:41Watching the draft year in and year out, you see certain things that kind of make you look
09:45at things sideways.
09:46Just sitting there as a coach, when you see some guys come off the board in front of somebody
09:50like Caleb Downs, it just makes you think, I wonder whether they're going to be regretting
09:55this in five to ten years, looking back on this draft and if they have those regrets.
09:58But I know the Cowboys got a great one.
10:00And that's exactly what...
10:02Every single person, every step of the way, Saban, Ryan Day, Matt Patricia, NFL teams,
10:07they all talk about him the same way.
10:09It's just sounding like Quentin Nelson in the secondary.
10:12Yeah.
10:12Like, you know it's a locked-in shirt thing.
10:14That's the way it sounds.
10:16Which, it's funny, there's also a, because it was so hyped up for Quentin Nelson, not
10:23that he was a disappointment, but it was just, there was no way to, like, blow away expectations.
10:26It was like, yeah, you're the guy that we said you'd beat.
10:28I think there's a little bit of that with Caleb Downs that can end up being in play, where
10:31it's like, yeah, Downs is just the guy that everybody said he'd beat.
10:34There's a ton of pressure on a guy like Downs, because there's no room for anything less
10:38than the expectations.
10:40I think it's going to be harder for Caleb than Quentin.
10:43Probably.
10:44To match it.
10:44Because you have to make more exciting, the ball's got to find you, you've got to be
10:49around the football.
10:50Quentin wasn't supposed to save one side of the ball for the Colts.
10:53This is the most prominent team in the National Football League, and Caleb Downs is supposed
10:56to save one side of the ball.
Comments