Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones says his defense is a whole lot better than it was last year — and a whole lot better than it was 48 hours ago.
On Day One of the draft, the Cowboys spent first-round picks on safety Caleb Downs and pass rusher Malachi Lawrence. On Day Two, the Cowboys drafted edge rusher Jaishawn Barham and traded for linebacker Dee Winters from the 49ers. Jones said that with those additions and other moves the Cowboys have made this offseason, the defense is very different than it has been in recent years.
“We have been able to, as of right now, rebuild this defense,” Jones said. “We’ve changed this defense. . . . This is a product of three, four, five years or maybe more of not getting where we’re trying to go and being a contender. It’s going to be different, it’s going to be fresh, we’ve got a lot of great energy here, we’ve got guys coming in like we introduced today. . . . When I lay my head down tonight I’m going to say, We’re doing something about the defense on this team.”
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said the work they’ve done in the first two days of the draft is part of an effort that began with the trade for Quinnen Williams in November and has continued through free agency this year.
“We felt like this was going to be a continuation of getting the defense where we want it to be,” Schottenheimer said.
Schottenheimer said his late father, longtime NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer, would have loved the tough, physical players they’re adding. He pointed to Barham as the kind of player Marty Schottenheimer would have wanted on his teams.
“If you were doing the old Oklahoma drill, which my old man would love to see, I’d probably put Jaishawn out there for the first reps,” Schottenheimer said.
The Cowboys traded away one of the best defensive players in football when they sent Micah Parsons to the Packers. Now they think they’ve used the picks they got for Parsons, and made more moves beyond that, to build a better defense.
Day 2 of the 2026 NFL Draft has come to an end with the Jaguars picking the last player of the night.
At No. 100 overall, Jacksonville selected safety Jalen Huskey out of Maryland.
Huskey spent his first two collegiate seasons at Bowling Green before transferring to Maryland in 2024. He was a Second-team All-Big Ten honoree in 2025, having recorded 72 total tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss and four interceptions.
The Bills are currently set to start the final day of the 2026 NFL Draft at pick No. 101 in the fourth round.
Louisville wide receiver Chris Bell is working his way back from a torn ACL in his left knee. He might have gone higher if not for that.
Still, the Dolphins drafted him in the third round, making him the 94th overall selection.
Bell injured his knee in the Cardinals’ 38-6 loss to SMU on Nov. 22, and Dr. Dan Cooper, the Cowboys’ team physician, performed the surgery in Dallas soon after.
A report this week indicated Bell is ahead of schedule in his rehab.
Bell had 72 receptions for 917 yards and six touchdowns in the 11 games he played last season.
The Dolphins have retooled their wide receivers room, moving on from Tyreek Hill and trading Jaylen Waddle this offseason. They drafted Texas Tech wide receiver with the 75th overall pick.
There aren’t many, if any, in the NFL who love adding a third-round running back more than Kyle Shanahan.
The 49ers have done it again, selecting Kaelon Black out of Indiana with the No. 90 overall pick on Friday night.
Black spent four years at James Madison before following head coach Curt Cignetti to Indiana for the 2024 season. While he wasn’t a starter in the Hoosiers’ championship season of 2025, he still rushed for 1,039 yards with 10 touchdowns — leading the team in the latter category.
In his 56 career collegiate games with 15 starts, Black rushed for 2,595 yards with 17 touchdowns while catching 55 passes for 528 yards with six TDs.
He’ll now join a San Francisco team that has had plenty of success with running backs during Shanahan’s tenure as head coach.
The Steelers have added another quarterback to their roster. No, his name isn’t Aaron Rodgers.
Pittsburgh drafted Penn State’s Drew Allar in the third round, using the 76th overall pick on him. It’s the draft choice the Steelers acquired from the Cowboys in the George Pickens trade a year ago.
Allar joins Mason Rudolph and Will Howard in the quarterbacks room as the Steelers await word on Rodgers about his future.
Allar’s family has Browns’ season tickets, so they will have to change their allegiance.
He played only six games in 2025, missing the second half of the season with a broken left ankle that required surgery. He completed 64.8 percent of his passes for 1,100 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions last season.
In his career, Allar made 35 starts and completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 7,402 yards with 61 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
The Giants traded back into the third round, picking up the 74th overall selection from the Browns.
New York added a receiver with the pick, choosing Malachi Fields out of Notre Dame.
Fields spent the 2025 season at Notre Dame after playing four years at Virginia. In his final collegiate season, he recorded 36 receptions for 630 yards with five touchdowns. He previously caught 55 passes for 808 yards with five TDs for Virginia in 2024. He also had 58 catches for 811 yards with five TDs in 2023.
The Giants sent No. 105 and No. 145 in this year’s draft, along with a 2027 fourth-round pick, to the Browns in exchange for No. 74.
No quarterbacks were taken in the second round of the draft on Friday night, but one has come off the board with the first pick of the third round.
The Cardinals selected Carson Beck with the 65th overall pick. Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson were the quarterbacks drafted in the first round.
Beck transferred to Miami last year and piloted the Hurricanes to the national title game. He was a two-year starter at Georgia before making the move to South Florida and had 11,725 yards, 88 touchdowns and 32 interceptions while completing just under 70 percent of his career passing attempts.
Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew are the veteran quarterbacks in Arizona, but Brissett has been away from the team’s offseason program while looking for an adjusted contract.
The Broncos were set to make their first pick of the 2026 draft at No. 62, but the wait will go on a little longer.
Denver traded that pick to the Bills and Buffalo used the selection to add cornerback Davison Igbinosun. They sent the 66th and 182nd picks to Denver in return for the Broncos’ original selection.
Igbinosun is the seventh Ohio State player to be drafted so far this year. The Bills also drafted edge rusher T.J. Parker in the second round.
Ignbinosun started his college time at Ole Miss and spent the last three seasons with the Buckeyes. He was a starter throughout his time in Columbus and helped the team win a national title during the 2024 season.
The Rams famously used plenty of multi-tight end sets during the 2025 season.
Now they have another player who could make an impact among that group.
Los Angeles selected Max Klare out of Ohio State at No. 61 overall in the second round of the 2026 draft.
Klare spent his first three collegiate seasons at Purdue before transferring to Ohio State for 2025. He caught 51 passes for 685 yards with four touchdowns in 2024. He was a first-team All-Big Ten honoree in 2025, though he caught 43 passes for 448 yards with two TDs.
In his 32 collegiate games, he caught a total of 116 passes for 1,329 yards with six TDs.
He is the second offensive pick for the Rams in 2026 after the club selected quarterback Ty Simpson at No. 13 overall on Thursday night.
The Browns have acquired pick No. 58 in the second round from the 49ers.
With that selection, Cleveland has drafted safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren out of Toledo.
Despite playing at a smaller school, McNeil-Warren became one of the top safeties in this year’s class. He appeared in 48 games with 26 starts for Toledo, tallying five interceptions, 15 passes defended, nine forced fumbles, and a sack.
He’ll now stay in Ohio to start his pro career.
The Browns sent No. 70 and No. 107 to the 49ers in exchange for No. 58 and No. 152 to complete the deal.
