Stock Up, Down For Dallas Cowboys Rookies After Second Week of OTAs

The Dallas Cowboys had their second and final open practice of OTAs on Tuesday. Here's a look at which rookies are moving in the right direction.

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Devin Moore (29) and safety Caleb Downs. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

The Dallas Cowboys held their second open practice of OTAs this week and will wrap up this portion of their offseason program on Thursday, June 11.

While there is one more practice, it isn't likely to be open to the media, as the Cowboys only held one open practice during the opening week of OTAs.

The open session this week came on Tuesday and gave us some insight into who is doing what and how they fared. Included in the information available from beat writers were updates on three of the team's 2026 NFL Draft picks.

In case you missed anything from Tuesday's session, we have all of the biggest takeaways in one place. Now, here's the stock report for Dallas' rookies.

Caleb Downs: Stock up

Dallas Cowboys safety Caleb Downs. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

The second week of OTAs saw the Cowboys having Caleb Downs do more. That more consisted of safety work, according to ESPN's Todd Archer, which Downs did not do during the first open practice of OTAs, when he only worked in the slot.

Downs also took on reps on punts, both as a returner and personal protector.

"Caleb Downs played some in the slot and more in the back end than he did in the first OTA we saw last week," Archer said. "During special teams period, he returned some punts and also acted as the personal protector."

The most important thing there is the Cowboys are putting more on Downs' plate, which is a sign he's progressing nicely toward becoming a Day 1 contributor ahead of his first season.

Let's just hope he doesn't go anywhere near punt returns, even though he showed he's quite capable during his days in college after scoring two touchdowns on just 10 attempts.

Malachi Lawrence: Stock up

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Malachi Lawrence. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Malachi Lawrence was during the first week of OTAs, but he managed to make a highlight play on Wednesday.

Tommy Yarrish of the team's official site noted how Lawrence nabbed a sack, and it came against the first-team offense after he beat Tyler Guyton. Archer added Lawrence notched that sack "with a good move to the outside."

Nobody is handing Lawrence Defensive Rookie of the Year for a sack in June, but it's just good to see something positive out of him. We continue to believe he'll start the season as the No. 3 EDGE behind Rashan Gary and Donovan Ezeiruaku.

Jaishawn Barham: Stock Up

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Jaishawn Barham. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Barham saw reps with the first-team defense, Yarrish noted. As far as we can tell, he did not get those looks in the opening week of OTAs, so that would amount to a step in the right direction for Barham's chances of starting, or at least having a role.

The problem for Barham's starting chances is the Cowboys are not giving him looks as the green dot. Instead, the list includes DeMarvion Overshown, Curtis Robinson, Justin Barron, Dee Winters and Shemar James.

Barham doesn't need to be able to wear the green dot to start, but it would certainly help his cause if he could fill that role. Right now, we have Winters and Overshown pegged as the starters, as we have from the jump, and one of them will wear the green dot.

Drew Shelton, Devin Moore, LT Overton, Anthony Smith, UDFAs: No changes

Dallas Cowboys defensive end LT Overton. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Unfortunately, we couldn't locate any nuggets on Shelton, Moore, Overton, Smith or the UDFAs from this week, so we'll rule their stocks as unchanging.

Last week, we found out that Shelton was not involved in the left tackle competition, although we can't say we're surprised given how early in the process the rookie is. Nate Thomas and Tyler Guyton will battle it out against each other.

Shelton is expected to get looks at guard on top of his reps at tackle this offseason, according to head coach Brian Schottenheimer after the 2026 NFL Draft.

Information on Moore, Overton and Smith has been even more scarce than with Shelton, and the same can be said for the UDFAs, although tight end Michael Trigg was named as a UDFA who could earn a starting role by Bleacher Report. We would say that's higly unlikely, though, given the presence of Jake Ferguson.

— Sign up for the Cowboys Daily Digest newsletter for more free coverage from Dallas Cowboys on SI —