FRISCO, Texas – Cowboys outside linebacker Donovan Ezeiruaku underwent offseason surgery on his hip labrum and is expected to miss most of the spring offseason program.
Ezeiruaku, Dallas' second-round pick in 2025, is expected to be ready to return to the field by the time the Cowboys head to Oxnard, California for training camp.
In his rookie season, Ezeiruaku played in all 17 games for the Cowboys, starting in nine. He registered 40 total tackles, nine tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble.
On Thursday, Schottenheimer announced that Ezeiruaku would be moving to outside linebacker in Christian Parker's new defensive system, a move the Cowboys think will benefit him.
I feel really, really good about Eze and what he's capable of," Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said at the NFL Combine on Thursday. "You actually saw him do those things that we see."
Schottenheimer continued by saying Ezeiruaku checks all the boxes that Parker and the Cowboys are looking for when it comes to the responsibilities they'll be giving their outside linebackers in the new defensive scheme.
"These outside linebackers for us, the first thing that they're gonna do is number one, set the edge of the running game. Number two, they're gonna affect the damn quarterback. And then occasionally, they'll drop." Schottenheimer said.
"The really good ones, you don't drop them very often, but you do it a little bit, and so what you want to see with guys like that, which we saw this year with Donovan, was when they drop, are they comfortable? Do they have movement skills? You see them, they look like a fish out of water? And all those answers for him are very, very positive."
For now, the focus shifts to the recovery process for Ezeiruaku, who Dallas hopes makes a jump in year two with a new system.
