The Dallas Cowboys are refusing to make a Caleb Downs mistake, and it doesn’t sound easy at all
The Dallas Cowboys have something special in rookie safety Caleb Downs, and they know it. Which is why it’s even more challenging to take things easy on him.
The Caleb Downs hype is so real you can feel it even in coaches’ and players’ voices when they discuss the Dallas Cowboys first-round rookie. However, the team is doing the right thing by trying to avoid a crucial mistake: letting expectations affect their approach to player development.
On Wednesday, Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker broke down how they’re avoiding the mistake.
Cowboys lessening expectations for Downs?
Expectations are a funny thing. On one hand, they are needed and they help set the tone. But in Downs’ case, Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker is trying to lessen them.
As one of the most hyped rookies in recent memory, he knows it’s important to not let expectations take away from the fact that he is a rookie. Doing something different just because the kid is too good could be a costly mistake.
“I think he’s trying to advance at the right rate,” Parker told reporters on Wednesday. “We try to lessen those expectations in terms of what goes on outside of these walls. There’s a certain process to take as a rookie in general in the National Football League, and we try to abide by that process.”
And while this is certainly the right approach from Parker and Co., it sounds like it will be tough even for them to stick to it. Why?
Parker gives Downs a glowing review
This coaching staff appears to be all in on who Caleb Downs is as a player.
“He’s as advertised,” Parker said of the rookie. “We spent significant time with him before the draft process. We had a good feel for who he was and knew some people at Ohio State and Alabama in terms of how he was on the day-to-day that we maybe didn’t see in that 30 visit or at the combine.”
The Cowboys aren’t tackling or having live contact at this stage of the offseason. But that hasn’t kept Downs from standing out simply with the way he attacks things.
“He’s been doing great, he’s a worker,” Parker added. “He looks for coaching. He craves that. He wants to be corrected, he wants more information. And he works as hard as he can with the extras and everything else. So it’s been good. He’s been good to work with.”
It’s great to hear the Cowboys are getting what they paid for in Downs. But it’s even better to know they’re not letting the hype get in the way of his development.