FRISCO, Texas – Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown kept track of the number of days when he tore his ACL, MCL and PCL against the Bengals on Dec. 9, 2024 and his return to an NFL game on Nov. 17, 2025.
The final tally was 343 days. It was a long process that Overshown had to go through for the second time in his young NFL career. Still, he found his way back onto the field for Dallas on Monday night against the Raiders. As much as he enjoyed being back out there, he didn't enjoy watching how he played on film as much.
"I didn't want to look at it," Overshown said. "So that says a lot, but it's simple stuff, it isn't anything that can't be fixed. It's just being antsy, ready to play football. I think I was more so worried on showing my physical abilities than my critical thinking abilities and my processing of the game."
"It's easy, fixable stuff, so I'm excited for this next game because I know that is, I won't say it's the worst I will ever play, but coming off 343 days, I can be way better than that."
Now, Overshown and the Cowboys face a short week with the Eagles coming to town on Sunday. It'll mark the first game of 12-day stretch where the Cowboys will play three games, meaning staying fresh is of the utmost importance for Dallas. Overshown feels the tail end of his process to return to the field has helped him get to that point.
"I feel like I've been primed up," Overshown said. "That was really what the 21-day window and the extra seven days, the bye week, was for. But I'm not foreign to the workload. I've been priming up for this. Of course, we're doing the safe route… but we all know it's time to play winning football."
Against Las Vegas, Overshown played 29 snaps as the Cowboys had him on a pitch count. How much more does he feel like he can do on a short week, with an even shorter week coming after that?
"They already know," Overshown said. "You ask my guy [director of rehabilitation Britt Brown], he's going to tell you I can do whatever they give me. I can go out there and play a full game if need be. It's more to it than about this week and next week. You've got to think deeper than that. Like I said, it's winning football time, we definitely got it planned out situationally."
"Even if I'm not in the game at the moment, I don't feel like my presence is not going to be felt especially with [rookie LB Shemar James] playing as great as he is. He's able to step right in if I am on a pitch count for this week or the following. It's really up to Britt, but I can handle whatever they give me."
With Overshown back on the field, the Cowboys certainly believe they can play winning football. And it's not just Overshown being back, it's the addition of new players like Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson as well as having Shavon Revel, Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson back healthy as well.
"I think now that Flus got his guys in there, and we worked together through the bye week practicing together and now have a game under our belt, it's really only up from here," Overshown said. "I feel like the energy is there, and everybody's excited to be out there. We're challenging ourselves. As great as our offense is, we know what it takes to get to the Super Bowl and win the games we want to win, and that's for the defense to show up to play."
