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  • 17 hours ago
Shan and Bobby went Inside The Star to break down the intriguing roster dynamics following the 2026 NFL Draft. They analyzed the potential fit for veteran Kenny Moore after his release from the Colts, the incredible childhood stories shared by Caleb's father Gary Downs about his son's football IQ, jersey numbers and more.

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00:00So we had some discussions and there were some reporters saying that after Kenny Moore, Colts DB, requested a trade
00:09out of Indianapolis, the Cowboys would make a lot of sense.
00:13Well, apparently he's such a good guy with multiple nominations for Walter Payton, man of the year.
00:20The Colts could not find out a trade, so they granted him his release yesterday.
00:25They're going to save $7 million against the cap with a $6 million dead cap charge.
00:32Now, Kenny Moore is 30.
00:34He's been with them since 2017, and he made a Pro Bowl in 2021.
00:41He is thought to also be a casualty of the scheme that they're going to run.
00:48Kenny Moore is more of a zone defender.
00:51The Colts are going to run more man-to-man.
00:54Yesterday, in Below the Belt, when we were talking about, I was asking, why is the great safety Caleb Downs
01:02now all of a sudden playing corner?
01:04And the Cowboys sound like, and that is going to be the main plan.
01:09And Bobby was explaining the zone tendencies in Christian Parker's defense.
01:14So here you go.
01:16Kenny Moore, zone.
01:18Cowboys defense and secondary, zone concepts.
01:23Does this make sense anymore with Caleb Downs playing nickel?
01:27No, not really.
01:29So he's a really good player.
01:32Kenny Moore is still, if they had drafted Sonny Stiles at 12, if they had drafted Mansoor Delane, if they
01:40had drafted Reuben Bain,
01:42if they had drafted any of these other people and they still had not gotten nickel,
01:44or maybe they addressed nickel in the third round with a rookie of like, well, this will be one of
01:48the guys that can play it.
01:49I'd be all over Kenny Moore.
01:51And he had a 66 PFF grade last year.
01:55That was 39th out of 114 corners.
01:58It makes me wonder if that's why he got released is because his PFF grade.
02:02No, because Indy was waiting around to see Dallas may want him.
02:07We may be able to get something from Dallas and a trade on this.
02:09And then as soon as Dallas addressed it, they're like, nah, we're good.
02:11Like, I do think that Kenny Moore would have been somebody they were considering if they had gotten to a
02:16point where they didn't address the nickel with Downs.
02:19But now that they've addressed the nickel with Downs, I mean, you're talking about a guy who last year played
02:24a career low on the outside in Kenny Moore.
02:28He played 28 snaps as an outside corner.
02:30And he's always been a nickel guy, but his outside corner snaps have like gone down more and more because
02:37he's 590 is 190 pounds.
02:38That's not really an outside corner.
02:40But even a Dory Jackson who got brought in here and had played some nickel initially, but got in here
02:44and the Cowboys gave him a look this week.
02:47A Dory Jackson's a guy who he plays outside now.
02:50And so they pretty clearly are looking for somebody to do that with what they're investigating right now.
02:56So I would imagine Kenny Moore wouldn't want to come here to rotate with Downs or be Downs' backup.
03:01Who is starting at safety game one for the Cowboys?
03:05In base look or assuming they start a nickel look?
03:08If they start in nickel with three corners, then the safeties are Hooker and Jalen Thompson.
03:14If they start in base, which is just the 3-4 look with two corners, it would be Downs and
03:19Thompson.
03:22So why not in the first sub package defensively increase your safety spot by playing Downs at safety and having
03:35Kenny Moore play nickel?
03:37Because I think they want – they're not putting Caleb Downs at nickel because we really need you here so
03:44we're going to play you out of position.
03:45They're playing Caleb Downs at nickel because they think that's where he's going to be best, and they think this
03:49is where you're going to make the biggest impact.
03:50That's why Malik Hooker's still here is because, all right, we're going to have you play nickel.
03:55Hooker will be the safety when we're in base.
03:57Maybe sometimes we just have one safety, though, and it's Thompson, and we're playing a couple linebackers, however the formation
04:01looks or however the personnel looks.
04:03But I think for them, they really think that Caleb Downs can be like an all-pro-level nickel, and
04:10they want him in there disrupting the game as much as they can.
04:14So the opportunity for former Colts corner Kenny Moore does not look the same or as enticing after the Cowboys
04:21draft Caleb Downs.
04:22Yeah, and do you recall what Brandon Cooks looked like?
04:26Yeah, he was short.
04:27I have never noticed this before.
04:30I cannot get over how much Kenny Moore to me looks like he could be Brandon Cooks' twin.
04:34Yeah.
04:35That looks really like him.
04:36Yeah.
04:37Holy cow.
04:37Yeah, it does.
04:38Okay, Caleb Downs' father, man, I don't want him to have a podcast because that's how we normally feel about
04:46family members of players, but he could have one because he went on All City yesterday, and this guy has
04:53raised two thoroughbreds, man.
04:55He's got Josh Downs, and he's got Caleb in the National Football League, and they asked Caleb's father, when did
05:03you know that your son was going to be great?
05:05Well, I'll tell you two stories.
05:08Two stories.
05:08When he was two years old, a guy I worked with stopped by my house and knocked on the door,
05:13and Caleb answered the door.
05:15Now, I don't know why a two-year-old answered the door, but he was.
05:19And the guy, the guy, the side lights of the window, the guy growled, and he said, Caleb looked at
05:25him and growled back, and the guy said, bro, your son growled back at me at two.
05:29And then when he was four, he was in like a daycare, and I went to pick him up, and
05:35the lady said, your son is doing one-arm push-ups, but he'll only do them for the girls.
05:41So that's the growl we heard on draft day.
05:44Yeah, which is, I think that was his dad that we heard right after that, going, all right, Caleb, like,
05:48come on, like, let's not get too worked up here.
05:51But, yeah, the one where he goes, those 10 teams, he gets, he's competitive.
05:56How long has Caleb Downs been watching film?
05:59When he was about seven years old, his coach started giving him the film for the game, and before the
06:05coaches would do a game plan, the coaches would say, what do you think, Caleb?
06:09So he's been watching film since he was seven years old.
06:13One of my former teammates, Jamal Anderson, coached Caleb when he was about nine, and he just did the same
06:18thing.
06:19Jamal said, when Caleb would go over the house with his, you know, Jamal has a son, too.
06:24They play together all through youth.
06:26His son said, let's go outside and play.
06:28He said, Caleb said, I want to watch the tape.
06:30And he said, this seven-year-old kid, A.Yorkin, wants to watch tape.
06:33So the cerebral part has always been there, his understanding of the game and his recall.
06:39When he was little, I could say, what happened on this play?
06:42He could tell you, like, a photographic memory where everybody was on the field, what everybody was doing.
06:47Dad, you came to the game.
06:48You got there in the second quarter.
06:50Mom left in the third quarter.
06:51He could see it all.
06:52And his understanding, I would say when he was in high school, that's when the clarity of how smart he
07:01was.
07:01He could come home from his practice.
07:04He could Zoom with Alabama for an hour.
07:07Get off that Zoom, Zoom with Ohio State.
07:10Get off that Zoom, Zoom with Georgia.
07:12And I said, how are you keeping all of these defenses straight?
07:16He said, I got it.
07:17It's not a problem.
07:18Literally, he's been doing it since you were a little kid.
07:21And his understanding of Exxon's offense, defense, I mean, as high as coaches.
07:26I mean, I remember his high school coach told me during one game that he took Caleb out the locker
07:32room during halftime and said, what do we need to do?
07:35And Caleb told him, we need to run this, this, and this.
07:38And that's when they went back and did it.
07:40So I think it's sort of innate, sort of a God-given gift.
07:44But he's been around and has some very good coaches, you know, whether high school coaches, youth coaches, and, of
07:49course, at college.
07:50And when Dane Brugler and others are doing the scouting of downs, he said, that right there is a superpower.
07:55It's not the 40.
07:57It's not the vert.
07:58It's not the strength.
08:00It's obviously not the size and the height.
08:02All that right there that you just heard from his pops, that is his superpower.
08:06He is the amount of time that he's spent on task.
08:10Like, you listen to him talk about how long he's been looking at playbooks and things like that.
08:15I don't know if I'm saying he's the player that he is today because he was looking at playbooks at
08:19seven.
08:20But in general.
08:20But answering the door, too, that's just bad parenting.
08:23How are you reaching the door handle?
08:25Like, we see he didn't grow up to be, like, a 6'5 child.
08:28So, like, I mean, I don't know that he's, like, totally reaching the door handle there.
08:31So maybe he's got the timeline a little off there.
08:33But Downs is a guy who I'm trying to find it right now.
08:37I'm going to pull it up at some point, and we'll reference back to it maybe at 840.
08:42But when you read the rules, like, when you open a Fangio playbook and you look at the rules built
08:49into everything and you see how much goes into that.
08:52This is not the Fangio defense, Bobby?
08:54No, no, no.
08:54But the Fangio defense as a similar comp, when you read it and you see all the rules that exist
08:59for this is what you're supposed to be doing on this play.
09:02And knowing that people have said he's got it all down in a way that others just don't, you have
09:09to be smart to be able to process everything that is in those sort of defenses and the rules that
09:14they have in place.
09:15Final one from Caleb's father, Gary Downs, on All City.
09:20What is going on and what is going to happen with the number?
09:26I believe he's wearing 13 for the OTAs, but I think two is still a work in progress.
09:32There's a lot of dominoes that's got to fall for him to get two.
09:36But he said if the number don't matter, he's going to play the same regardless.
09:39When it comes to ball, it's going to be about football, it's not going to be about social media, it's
09:45not going to be about his marketing, and it's not going to be about a number.
09:48He understands he has to prove himself, and so when it regards to the number, he knows that that is
09:54not the main thing.
09:55He's also a team builder, and he understands that someone else has that number.
09:59He's not going to go in and just take it away from him.
10:01That player gets traded or gets cut is what it is.
10:06And then he also, he's very frugal with his resources, his money.
10:10So he's not all about this paying money.
10:12Hey, this dude is tight with his money.
10:15He saves his money.
10:16He's just not like that, man.
10:18I mean, he's always looking for a deal.
10:22I work with this guy named Carl Torbush, and Carl was like, if it's free or cheap, if it's free,
10:28take three.
10:29I'm not saying Caleb is that bad, but he is very frugal.
10:35But it's about the main thing, and ball's the main thing.
10:38The number is a tertiary, third-order thing, and when he gets a chance to get two, I'm sure he'll
10:45get it.
10:45But he's not focused on it.
10:48My wife, his mom, she's serious about that number, too.
10:52But he's like, Mom, that don't matter.
10:56Does Caleb Downs have a podcast, Bobby?
11:00He does.
11:01Now, I don't know if that's going to continue.
11:04Downs to business.
11:06Yeah.
11:06Yeah, he does have one.
11:07Yeah.
11:08And we've seen some.
11:09In fact, I'm trying to look.
11:11There was an episode out one day ago.
11:13They interviewed Alec Pierce.
11:16Okay.
11:17So Micah got kicked around here for a long time for having a podcast.
11:22Uh-huh.
11:24Does this deserve the same or some criticism or questioning?
11:28It definitely deserves, like, a question.
11:31That bugged people.
11:32Like, as much as there may be fans who say, like, it doesn't matter, blah, blah, blah.
11:36I'm telling you, it bugged teammates that he had it and the way he used it.
11:40Malik Hooker commented on it.
11:42Yeah.
11:42Now, I think that's the big thing.
11:45How does it get used?
11:47Teams didn't.
11:48They didn't like that you're up here just, like, talking about how awesome Jordan Love
11:52is right after you get your ass kicked by the Packers.
11:54They don't like that.
11:55Yeah.
11:55Now, if Caleb Downs is up there just doing a podcast where he's talking about his life
11:59in the NFL or whatever, I don't think a lot of people would care about that.
12:03It's like, yeah, sure.
12:04I understand it's different players.
12:06Brock Hoffman had a podcast when he was here, and nobody was bugged by the way he used it.
12:11He would just talk about, like, logistics of how does life in the NFL go?
12:15And this is what I experienced.
12:16And he interviewed teammates and stuff.
12:18It wasn't a whole bunch of, like, I'm going to interview the team we're going up against
12:20so we can talk about how great they are.
12:22Does Amon Ra have the most prominent one right now in season?
12:26Because I feel like Mike has disappeared last year.
12:30Must have been the playoffs.
12:32I don't.
12:34Probably.
12:35Yeah, that's the one I see the most.
12:36I mean, other than Travis Kelsey.
12:38But, I mean, Travis Kelsey doesn't really play anymore.
12:40He's more an entertainment celebrity now.
12:43Talking about sourdough bread with Tay-Tay.
12:45So, there it is.
12:46Caleb Downs' father.
12:47Very, very entertaining with the number update.
12:51But it sounds like he's not coughing up all that cash.
12:53No.
12:54And it's one of those things where everybody just, it sounds like everybody's pretty much
12:58unanimous at this point.
12:59Kobe Durant, keep the number until Caleb Downs wants to pay for it.
13:02And if he doesn't want to pay for it, he doesn't get it.
13:03Fans aren't unanimous on that.
13:04No, but I'm talking about everybody related to, like, being around it.
13:07It's like, he's got to earn it.
13:08It won't be possible.
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