
The Dallas Cowboys weigh their options at safety as Caleb Downs looks poised to be off the board by pick 12. Which prospect best fits Christian Parker's multifaceted defense?
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Marcus Mosher
Caleb Downs is the top safety in 2026 NFL Draft. But is there another first run option that might be a better fit with the Cowboys? We'll get to that next.
Landon McCool
You are Locked On Cowboys, your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network. Your team every day.
Marcus Mosher
Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network. Your team every day. We'd like to thank you for making us the number one sports podcast network. I am your host, Marcus Mosher. He is Landon McCool. And on today's show we are discussing the top safeties in the 2026 NFL Draft outside of Caleb Downs. We all know how great Caleb Downs is. He's probably going to be gone before the Cowboys pick at 12. But what if they want another safety outside of Downs because he's just not available? Are there some other intriguing options? We'll talk about Zaki Wheatley from Penn State. We'll talk about Emmanuel McNeil Warren. But let's start with Dylan Thieman, a safety slash slot corner from Oregon who played at Purdue. I know you're a big fan. What did you see from the tape?
Landon McCool
Yeah, you know, one thing that really starts out with his profile is that he was the 988th ranked profile in the 2023. Right? Yeah. Ranked prospect in the 2023 recruiting class. And I think that kind of speaks to the leveling up that he's done over his college career. Right. Like he starts out his first two years at Purdue and if you go back and watch his Purdue tape, it's excellent and frankly, it's it, it shows a different side of him that his Oregon tape doesn't necessarily show as well. But he, he was an excellent player all three years. The two years at Purdue, the one year at Oregon. He clears the physical thresholds for being, you know, a safety. He's probably over 60. We're going to find out all that this week.
Marcus Mosher
Right? Six, just above six foot, 205 pounds.
Landon McCool
Yeah. So he's right. I mean 205 pounds is a little bit light. Right. But I think that those are the kind of minimum requirements for playing this position, I think physically. But he's an incredible athlete. He really is an incredible athlete. We're, I, I would not be shocked if he puts on an absolute show at the combine if he works out. You know, like I said, he worked his way from being basically the thousandth recruit to potentially being a, you know, late day one, early day two pick. Right. I, so one thing that I started doing this year with, with safeties is paying attention to. We've talked about stops before. You know, I, I have my issues with pff. I, I, the grades are sometimes hit or miss, I find, but their, their stats that they create are some of the best. And I think stops is one of my favorite. And basically a stop is when a defensive player makes a tackle that, that causes an offense to have a losing play, an unsuccessful play. Right. And, and I, I started measuring stops to missed tackle ratio and I think I, I think I may have found something here because I think it's, it's an indicator of how many more big plays you're making than big mistakes essentially. Right. He had plus 21 stops to miss tackle ratio, which is pretty good. I mean, to give you the kind of a baseline here, I think from what I remember seeing with Caleb Downs, this was something like 65 or something. He had an insane number of stops this year. Anyways. He had 15 coverage snaps to target and that's another one I'm looking at is how many coverage snaps did you have per target, the times you were targeted? 15 coverage stats to target, which is actually really low, which is not good. He was targeted quite a bit at Oregon. I think that's probably because of the position he played. Specifically he aligned in Oregon's star type safety. He was kind of like this middle between the two back safeties and it was at like 12 yards yard depth. So kind of an unnatural position, but a position you saw a lot in college football. Violent beyond his size, but, but not much beyond that. Like I wouldn't necess I would say he is a extremely solid and dependable tackler, but I wouldn't say he's a physical tackler. Like, you know, he's not.
Marcus Mosher
Well, honestly, without getting too much into the way, this is my biggest knock on him. He's just not a physical player for me. And he's a, he's wonderful in coverage, but you're not getting Bob Sanders or Sean Taylor back there.
Landon McCool
That's absolutely fair. And I think that's, that's, that's a, that's a fair, you know, issue with him. I, I think he's a very good mover, though, like you mentioned, though. Fluid hips, very quick feet. I think he's also a very heady player. You see him communicating a lot. He, he lines, he does line up all over. I mean, he doesn't just line up in that one spot, but that's where he lines up a lot. But you see him in the slot and kind of all over, and he's constantly communicating. He takes really good angles from up high, maybe at his best coming down from a shell spot to make the tackle. Again, not a physical player, but he is not missing tackles either. He is a very solid, reliable tackler. Clean technique and pursuit, no wasted movement. Ability to change direction while staying balanced at fl. Full speed is a special trait, I think. I mean, he really can move fast and come down hard without losing with. And, and come to his feet to make the tackle without losing, without losing his balance, which is something that you, you like to see a lot. Flips his hips, flies up field quickly. Not great overall ball production. Despite scoring six career touchdowns, which is wild. He had eight career interceptions, 11 pass breakups, which obviously includes six interceptions. His freshman year at Purdue. Would definitely call him more smooth and explosive. Yeah, but, but, but I mean, that's weird because he is, I do think he's an incredible athlete. Where does he win? He's a solid, dependable, versatile, utility interior defensive back. You and I talked about this. I actually would love to see him try to play in the slot. I'd see, I want to see, especially in this scheme, potentially. I think he would be really, really good at it. You know, unanswered questions in general, I think is what is, what is his best position? Because I do think that that's going to be where, you know, teams are going to be trying to figure this out. Is he a single safety high for you? Is he, you know, is he a versatile guy? He can play inside and outside the box. I don't know if his profile necessarily reads like that in the NFL, but you saw a lot of that in college.
Marcus Mosher
I think he's just a really good, versatile safety that can play any role. And if you're going to be in a defense, it's going to be very multiple. You need safeties play as a single high that can come down and play in the box, in the slot, that can play as a strong safety if you need them. I think there's going to be people comping him for to Cooper Dean for obvious reasons, and I don't think that's a fair comp because I think. I think Dean's a better overall athlete, but I do think he is kind of like the modern day safety, like these guys that can just line up all over the field. And between all three safeties that we're going to talk about here, I think he's probably the best fit for Dallas considering all the hats that he can wear on game day. I just happen to like someone else a little bit more, that's all.
Landon McCool
I think. No, look, I think it's fair and I. I mean, I. I think I would. We'll talk about that. These other guys. But I do think that two of these guys are touching tags for me, they're very, very close despite being quite different positions. Quite different in their own position. Right. I think that they're very. Still very close players.
Marcus Mosher
And I. I really like what I've seen in thienamin, like coming downhill and making tackles. Like he diagnoses things quickly. He's just not going to be somebody that lays the boom on the hits and that's okay. He's kind of a dragged down tackler, but he doesn't miss a lot of tackles. And I think the concern is when you go up against bigger guys in the NFL and faster guys, is he still going to be able to make those tackles at that rate? I think so because I think he's pretty technically sound. I also think because he's so good in zone coverage, he's always going to have a role in the NFL. I think he could maybe get a little bit bullied in man coverage. And honestly, he didn't have a ton of man coverage snaps. I think it was 15 career press snaps over three years. I like him a lot. To me, he's somebody that should be a back half of the first round pick. And if the Cowboys feel like at 20 they need a safety, I, I would have no problem with this pick.
Landon McCool
Yeah, I, I agree about the physicality. I, I just. I want this guy on my pursuit team. Like I want him chasing the ball and making tackles because I do think that even though he's not a big hitter, he is so good at at running and coming to a coming to a gathering himself at the front of the tackler and making the tackle that you just want him as part of a group of 11 guys chasing after the player.
Marcus Mosher
Walker all right, let's talk about the other safety that a lot of people are projecting to be like either a late first round pick or an early second round pick. And that is Emmanuel McNeil Warren from Toledo. Is he a better prospect than Thieman? We'll get to that next. This episode is brought to you by Home Chef. As the new year gets going, a lot of people are trying to simplify their routines and dinner is always a big one. Especially at my house. Between busy work days, cold winter nights and packed schedules, having an easy and reliable dinner plan makes all the difference in the world. And that's where Home Chef comes in. Home Chef takes the stress out of cooking by delivering fresh pre portioned ingredients right to your door with easy to follow recipes that actually taste great. They're rated number one by users users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste and recipe ease. And it's easy to see why meals come ready to fit your schedule, 30 minute recipes, oven ready trays or quick lunches. And for a limited time, Home Chef is offering our listeners 50% off your first box with free shipping and free dessert for life. Just go to homechef.com loton that's home chef.com locked on for 50 off your first box plus free shipping and free dessert for life and must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert.
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Marcus Mosher
Welcome back to the Lockdown Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. The off season never stops around here, so join the group chat to talk Cowboys year round and get every episode of the show ad free. Head over to LockedOn cowboys.supercast.com or hit the link in the show notes to become a part of the everyday club. All right Landon, let's talk about Emmanuel McNeil Warren somebody who when I turned on the tape, it just instantly fell in love. But what did you see from watching his film.
Landon McCool
Yeah, I mean a guy that I think we had talked about earlier on in the process I had watched very early and really fell in love with it. And I think you know again another guy, he was the 13th, he was 1 357th ranked prospect. He's a three star prospect in the 2022 class. Very well put together athlete. I got him as. And you tell me what you've got. I got him at six one, five eight and and 206 pounds. What do you.
Marcus Mosher
There are actually some differing things here because one of the sources that I generally use has him at 6033, 209. So again. Yeah, we'll see. I, I think it's closer to what you have the 6:2 just based on tape. But he's one that I'm curious to see what he measures in at.
Landon McCool
Yeah, me too. Especially now. Right. Like he's very well put together athlete. He's got good height, long arms, long legs and he's got. You know, I think him and Zaki Wheatley are built similarly in the height and length. Way similar situation but not in the muscle density. I think, I think McNeil Warren's a little bit better put together athlete than Wheatley. And look four year starter at Toledo. And for those of you who don't know, Toledo has actually gotten a reputation of developers developing defensive backs specifically. Obviously Quinn on Mitchell is, is came out with Toledo but they've, they actually had a nice little run of a couple of different defensive backs that have come out of there. So just, just it not super surprising that this is another one coming out of that program. I talked about the, the stops to miss tackle ratio. McNeil Warren's last year was not great. He only had five more stops than to miss tackles. His, his coverage snap targets though that does tell a different story. He was at 22 point and a half per target. He just wasn't getting. I mean part of it is that he's on a Toledo team that doesn't have a ton of other super high end players. So obviously they're going away from him. But I mean that speaks to his talent as well. Right. Good vision as he sees through traffic at the line of scrimmage. Well, his height serves him well in this regard. Like I mentioned, very experienced player. Saw action in all four years of Toledo and started three of them solid. Coming downhill and filling in his gap in the run game. Good at slipping blocks in pursuit of the ball carry. He's very flexible in the lower half. You can see him kind of duck Dodge around blocks to make sure that he doesn't get cleanly blocked. Not afraid to throw his body around. Not afraid to throw himself at a Mac fullback every once in a while. But his technique is, is it leaves a little bit to be desired at times. It just feels like sometimes he's just throwing himself instead of, you know, engaging with his hands and being physical. Reads the quarterback well and gets to a spot where he's looking quickly. Excellent reactive athlete. Adjust well to the ball in his air. Athletic enough to leap and deflect the ball in his air at its highest point even when it's unexpected. There was that one play, I think it was. Was it against Ohio State? Was it some where somebody where he. I think where he deflected a ball and ended up. Ended up right into the hands of the wide receiver and he scored a touchdown. It was just like you needed one more player on that back end to help. Oh, no, that was the key. Wheatley. I'm sorry, that was a Kiwi lead that that happened to. Apologies. It all starts to blend together because again, they look very similar on tape. Didn't have a ton of production on the ball in the air. 5 interceptions and 11 pass breakups on 1861 snaps. However, he forced 11 fumbles in his career on less than 2000 snaps. As I mentioned, he doesn't have a ton of experience as a blitzer, as a pass rusher, which is interesting to me because I do think, like I mentioned, he is pretty good at slipping blocks and kind of, you know, getting around blockers and avoiding contact in a pinch. Can line up close to the line of scrimmage and press in the slot if you need him to be needed to. Where does he win? He's just a versatile, well balanced experience safety in a very traditional safety body. I think it's. I, I think the reason. All right, real quick unanswered question. Can you break through the ceiling of very good to great. I think that there's a high possibility of. I think for me, I grade players like I was working for the Cowboys, right? And I think I saw Thiamen as a player that I think fits what the Cowboys are doing a little bit better. I think that McNeil Warren, if I was just grading generally, I think McNeil Warren is going to be higher on boards or maybe he won't, I don't know. But I think he would be higher on boards because I think he probably appeals to more broad teams because he's just such a traditional safety and he fits that role very Well, I, I,
Marcus Mosher
I really don't disagree with anything that you had in the scouting report, and the, the.
Landon McCool
It's.
Marcus Mosher
It's crazy because you're right about the tackling. I. Missing 16% of his tackles in 2025 is, is not good. However, there is. When he makes tackles, there is just stopping power that he has that I haven't seen from a lot of safeties to come out in the last 10 years. And when he gets a clean shot on these guys, and you can see it, like, in the run game, running backs stop in their tracks. And I know that part of the game has kind of gone away a little bit because of the new, you know, the rules and the safety and all that kind of stuff, but it's really nice to have somebody in the middle of the field that's a bit of an enforcer, and I think he does a pretty good job of making sure that it's not illegal or dirty or anything. He's just a hard hitter when he gets it teed up. Right. And that's why I was talking to you about Huanga, who was with the 49ers, who's now with the Broncos. Huanga will miss some tackles, but he's that enforcer, that robber defender in the middle of the field. I just like this player a lot. And I think one of the things that we've said all offseason is we want the Cowboys to get more dogs on their defense. Right. Guys that'll play physical, a physical brand of football. Thienman is the better coverage player. Ward's a really good coverage player as well. Like, he can flip his hips.
Landon McCool
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Marcus Mosher
So it's not like a. It's not like Roy Williams here.
Landon McCool
No, absolutely.
Marcus Mosher
Right.
Landon McCool
Absolutely not. No.
Marcus Mosher
He's just the guy that I feel like could play in a big playoff game and set the tone.
Landon McCool
No, in fact, I will go so far as to say that it's funny that you mentioned Hufanga. Right. Because to me. Did you watch any of his 2024 or 2023 tape?
Marcus Mosher
Yes, I watched all of it.
Landon McCool
Did you think that he was that same level of physical in that tape?
Marcus Mosher
No, I thought, I thought I really ramped it up this year.
Landon McCool
So I think that that's actually his issue, is that I think he. And I think it's why he missed more tack, because his missed tackle issue is, Is only this year, last. The last two years, he was a very solid tackle. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And so I think he tried to ramp up the physicality a Little bit. And maybe he's still kind of calibrating that a little bit. A little bit. It just like how, how to be physical without being reckless. Not reckless, but like out of control as a tackler. Right. So I, I think there's a chance that he figures it out next year and he's a solid, physical tackler all the time. So, yeah, I mean, again, I'm a huge fan of his and I agree with you, like we're talking about, you're pointing out his physicality and I think you're right, you're right to do that. But we don't want to give the impression that this guy is a box safety only. That's not even where I think his value, his best value is. I think his best value is that he's a really good versatile safety. He can play on the back end. I would love for him to be just my regular single safety high. If that's the, if that's what we drafted him for, he would be great at that role. So yeah, when we say versatile, we really do mean it. He can play both the run and the pass equally well.
Marcus Mosher
Now I expect Dylan Feederman to test as a much as the much better athlete at the NFL combine. Assuming both these guys run, he's just the superior, you know, athlete. But I do think, I do think McNeil Warren is a good athlete on the football field. It's weird because I think he can be a little clunky, right? And it looks a little weird, but he's so doggone long.
Landon McCool
That's what it is.
Marcus Mosher
And he can get into these throwing lanes. There were a couple times I was watching the tape where teams would try to throw like seam balls and his ability to flip his hips and then get right down the seam is pretty unique.
Landon McCool
You know, phenomenon is going to run and jump a lot better than, well, maybe not even a lot better, but better than McNeil Warren, I think. But, but, but Neil Warren is a bigger and longer athlete. So him arriving with that size and you know, again, you watch him striding out. Like, look at the, the ground he's able to cover going across the field with his, with, with his, you know, long legs, it's, it's, it's impressive. So yeah, neither of these, both of these guys I view as back end of first round picks. And if they're safeties, that means that they don't have a lot of holes in their game. We've pointed out two small ones individually with these guys, but outside of that, they're both extremely Versatile, Very, you know, easy. Plug and play players that you can draft in the first round.
Marcus Mosher
All right, let's talk about Zaki Wheatley.
Landon McCool
Who?
Marcus Mosher
I mean, the opinions in him are all over the board. We'll get to him next. This episode is brought to you by fanduel. Have you ever wanted to experience the NBA Finals live and in person? Fanduel is giving you the chance to turn that dream into reality with their NBA sweepstakes. And here's how it works. Use your profit boost on any NBA future and you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win a trip to the NBA finals for two. That's right, flights, tickets, the whole experience. So if you're already looking at the board and thinking about which teams can make a deep run, this is the perfect time to lock in. After the all star break, the competition is really heating up and now is the time to lock into the NBA. So visit FanDuel.com to get started and use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA.
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Marcus Mosher
Welcome back to the Lockdown Cowboys podcast. We're discussing the non Caleb down safeties that could go inside the top 40 or 50 picks. Let's talk about Zaki Wheatley from Penn State. A lot of differing opinions on him. But what did you see from the tape?
Landon McCool
Yeah, I really liked Zaki Wheatley and I think, you know, we, we, we obviously talked about these other two guys as being first rounders. I don't know. That's key. Wheatley is necessarily that, but I think that he still was a very good player to watch. I think we've seen a lot of players like this though. I mean, he's four star, 350, 50th ranked prospect in the 2021 class. He's a stretched slight safety. Right. He's leggy with little muscle development. I mean, again, you know, if you squint, he looks like McNeil. Yeah, Warren. Yeah. But if, if you look, look a little closer, you see that McNeil's a lot more filled out. Right. And I think that shows up in Wheatley's game to, to a large degree. We'll talk about that a little bit more. He's plus 12 in the stops to miss tackles ratio, which is, you know, okay, 32 and a half coverage snaps to target in 20, 25. That's actually very impressive, like in playing at Penn State at a place where, you know, major college football. He's got a lot of other good players on his team. Teams were definitely trying to get throw the ball away from him a little bit. So that's. That. That does speak well to him. And again, I think that's where his strength is. He's a very good cover safety. The other parts are where I have issues. Right. He moves cleanly in space. He's good. Ankle flex for a taller safety allows him to play with low pad level. He's rangy. He's got long legs to cover ground quickly once he turns loose. He stands tall pre snap to use his height, but pops his pads down at the snap and is springing in the lower half. He gets low to coil and spring on targets as he tackles. Not a ton of sand in his pants when he's taking on blocks. Yes. Here we go. Here's the note. Made an incredible pass deflection in the red zone versus Ohio State that will get remembered as an incredible Jeremiah Smith highlight because unfortunately he caught the deflection and scored a touchdown. He sees the field very well with depth. Once, you know, once he's gotten to his drop, he's really good at kind of scanning and seeing the whole field value decreases the closer he is to the ball. No one, not really one to kind of mix things up down low or in the box at all. Not a great blitzer, you know, and you saw him used that way, but he's just, he's just. He doesn't really have a plan and he doesn't really have the physicality to execute a plan if he, if he did. To be honest, like, I just saw him kind of use his speed and then when he met a little bit of resistance, kind of like jump like he was, I don't know, like gonna get into a passing lane, maybe. Underlying issue behind inconsistent tackling, bad blitzing, and inability to get off blocks is that lack of physicality. You know, it's.
Marcus Mosher
It's.
Landon McCool
That's just the kind of core issue to that unlocks those other things. Does his best work back in coverage? Where does he win? He's a rangy back end safety. Unanswered questions. Is he limited to playing single safety, high and palms coverage due to his lack of physicality?
Marcus Mosher
I think so. The other part, I. I think he's still pretty raw as a player. And if you're drafting him, let's say inside the top 50, you also have to take into account that he's older than these other safeties. He's 24. I believe he's going to be 25 during the rookie season. So there's also part of it, like, okay, if we're drafting this guy who's going to be 25 as a rookie, why not take one of these guys that's 20 or 21? Because by the time they get to be 24, 25, they're just going to be way further along than what Wheatley is. I see the appeal because he is a really good athlete, and I just fully expect all these Penn State guys to be really good athletes. I think the gap between. Oh, man, this is probably going to get me in trouble. The gap between Thieneman, McNeil, Warren and Wheatley is honestly a much, much bigger gap than what I have between Downs and Thienaman and McNeil.
Landon McCool
I think that's fair.
Marcus Mosher
I mean, I just think. I think those first three are all guys that should go inside the top 25 picks. I'm not so sure this guy should go inside the top 50.
Landon McCool
Yeah, I mean, I. I have him as a day two pick, but I would say probably more third round than second round. Right.
Marcus Mosher
I'm with you.
Landon McCool
And I. I think. I think he certainly could give you value. And if you need a safety, like, especially a cover safety, you could certainly do worse than this guy. But, yeah, I mean, I think you're gonna have problems if you don't have really good tacklers of the other 10 positions. And this is your. Your last line of defense.
Marcus Mosher
So for Dallas, Thieman, McNeil, Warren, Gap, Wheatley.
Landon McCool
Yeah, for sure. And I'm not going to argue with anybody that wants to put McNeil, Warren above them.
Marcus Mosher
I have it that way. For Dallas, I like McNeil, Warren as the prospect better, but for Dallas, I think Thieneman's honestly probably the better fit.
Landon McCool
I. I get it. Yeah. I mean, again, like, I think that they're very. Even though they're very distinctly different. And I. And I kind of almost see them playing slightly different roles in the NFL. I think talent wise, you know, they have a defined. Defined hole in their game or a defined weakness that I think that they can improve on. I think that that makes them kind of similarly quality, quality players.
Marcus Mosher
All right, that is it for today's show. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. If you Never miss an episode. The Everydayer Club is built for you. Get locked on Cowboys ad free members only, discord access and so much more. Head over to lockon cowboys.supercast.com to join the club. And for those of you on video, we can send you the first ever 24.7national NBA YouTube channel and on audio, make your second listen the locked On NFL Draft podcast. Follow Landon on Twitter @mccoolbcb. I'm @Marcus Underscore Moser and we'll see you right back here tomorrow.
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Podcast: Locked On Cowboys – Daily Podcast On The Dallas Cowboys
Hosts: Marcus Mosher & Landon McCool
Date: February 24, 2026
Episode Theme: Deep dive into 2026 NFL Draft safety prospects for the Dallas Cowboys—notably Dillon Thieneman, Emmanuel McNeil Warren, and Zakee Wheatley—excluding consensus top prospect Caleb Downs.
This episode breaks down the top 2026 NFL Draft safety prospects, focusing on versatile, high-upside players who could be available when the Dallas Cowboys pick in the first round. With Caleb Downs likely out of reach by pick 12, Marcus and Landon provide detailed scouting reports, debate best fits for Dallas, and compare athletic profiles, play styles, and NFL translation of Dillon Thieneman (Oregon/Purdue), Emmanuel McNeil Warren (Toledo), and Zakee Wheatley (Penn State).
(Starting at 01:38)
(Starting at 12:08)
(Starting at 23:03)
(Starting at 27:48)
Marcus and Landon deliver a detailed comparative breakdown of non-Caleb Downs safety prospects for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2026 NFL Draft, emphasizing each player's strengths, weaknesses, and specific fit in Dallas. Thieneman’s coverage ability and versatility make him the top Cowboys target. McNeil Warren brings needed physicality and “enforcer” skills but has tackling consistency to refine. Wheatley’s range and coverage stand out, but lack of physicality and age keep him a rung below for Dallas’ needs. Both hosts agree: picks in the 20s for the first two prospects would provide plug-and-play, multi-position back-end defenders, while Wheatley represents more of a risk/reward option for teams seeking pure coverage.
Notable Quotes at a Glance: