Last season, the Dallas Cowboys struggled to find someone capable of wearing the green dot on defense. Someone who can receive the plays from the sideline and relay calls to teammates. A role that requires more than just talent; it demands command, communication, and the ability to get everyone aligned before the snap.
Right now, defensive coordinator Christian Parker and his staff are hoping to figure that out, and the sooner the better for a defense in need of a leader. Right now, it sounds like there are discussions going on inside the star on who will wear the green dot. While head coach Brian Schottenheimer believes a linebacker will wear the green dot, there’s been talk of the Cowboys’ first-round pick Caleb Downs taking on that responsibility.
The Cowboys’ options at the moment are razor thin. The club traded for Dee Winters, a middle linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers who started 17 games last season. But when Fred Warner went down, 49ers DC Robert Saleh gave the red dot to rookie Tatum Bethune for the final three months of the season.
It’s easy to understand why Dallas continues to talk about how high Downs’ football IQ is and his ability to process complex defensive concepts quickly. His Ohio St. safeties coach, Matt Guerrieri, raved about his former safety:
Yeah, incredibly fast. Incredibly fast. For him to be able to take the entire packaging from Jim Knowles and be able to run with that and then direct traffic — it’s one thing just to know it and go function and play. If you play safety in the system you have to be able to direct traffic. We put the checks on those guys. Run game, throw game, they have to know it all. He’s been great from that standpoint.
High praise for a player entering the NFL, but it also raises a critical question: Is it the right move to place that level of responsibility on a rookie?
History suggests it’s a difficult task. Only a handful of defenders have worn the green dot as rookies and found immediate success: Patrick Willis in 2007, Luke Kuechly in 2012, Darius Leonard in 2018, and, most recently, Carson Schwesinger last season with the Cleveland Browns. Looking deeper, last season the NFL had only one safety wearing the green dot: Amani Hooker with the Tennessee Titans. Teams normally want to give their rookies time to get comfortable learning a new scheme and adapting to the speed of the NFL.
The Cowboys are hoping Downs can have the same success in Dallas as Schwesinger did last season in Cleveland, but it won’t be easy in Parker’s defensive scheme. Parker has said he plans to be multiple on defense, with various defensive fronts and coverages designed to confuse opposing quarterbacks. There’s no question Downs has handled responsibility before. But in the NFL, the speed of the game, talent on offense, and consequences for each poor decision increase dramatically.
Dallas will be walking a fine line with Downs. He could thrive in Parker’s scheme and become the field general they believe he can be, or the weight of the role and transition in the NFL could be too much, stunting his development and shattering the rookie’s confidence.
And when a player’s confidence is shaken early in their career, it’s not easy to come back from, especially in the NFL.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Is Caleb Downs the Cowboys best option for the green dot despite rook status
Reporting by Terence Watson , Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
