FRISCO, Texas – One of the most important positions the Cowboys needed to address on defense going into the 2026 season was the linebacker position. During the NFL Draft, the Cowboys picked Michigan's Jaishawn Barham in the third round.
Before that, the Cowboys made a trade with the San Francisco 49ers for linebacker Dee Winters, a sixth-round pick out of TCU going into his fourth NFL season. In exchange for a fifth-round pick, Dallas added a veteran at their biggest remaining need on defense.
After entering the second day of the draft with questions at linebacker, Dallas provided a pair of answers at the position in Winters and Barham. Is it enough? Only time will tell, but for now, Winters is tied for being the most experienced player at the position.
Let's take a look at what Winters can bring to the second level of Dallas' defense:
Winters avoiding the climbing blocker and making the tackle
Winters measures in at 5'11, 227 pounds. That's not necessarily the biggest frame for a linebacker, but plays like this are where you can see some of the advantages of that paying off.
When big offensive linemen get to the second level, they usually win as soon as they engage with their target because anybody who is going to be back there (linebackers, safeties, corners) are typically smaller, lighter bodies which makes it easier for the linemen to do their job. Where Winters and players of those positions have an advantage is being able to have the speed and agility to get away from getting caught up in a block.
Winters is able to do that on this play, running right to his gap before the lineman can get in a position to make a play on him. From the jump when you watch Winters' head, you can see that it doesn't move much (if at all) and his eyes are concentrated on the running back from the snap to when he makes the tackle. Once he's past the lineman and into his gap, it's just him and the running back, who looks to try and dive under Winters but it looked like did his part to make sure he didn't get too much extra yardage in doing so.
Eyes on the QB, getting to the flat and breaking up the pass
One of the things that Brian Schottenheimer has said he looks for from his linebackers is their eye discipline. How do they use their eyes? How good are they at seeing things early? How do they read and react based off what they see? All things that are important for the position, and you can see Winters' answers to some of those questions on film.
We talked about Winters' eyes a bit in the first clip, and you'll see them again on display here against the pass. The 49ers are in Cover 1, and Winters is manned up against the tight end Cade Otton. Winters' eyes begin on Otton, but once he knows Otton's route stem has reached its peak and he's breaking towards the sideline, Winters' eyes shift back to the quarterback, who hasn't released the ball yet.
Seeing the QB's eye match up with his, Winters tries to undercut the route but looked to go maybe a step or two too far, and misses out on an interception but does enough to tip the ball away and force an incompletion on what otherwise could've been an easy pitch and catch.
Winters' ability to get to the ball quickly
Back to eye discipline again on this play, and it's important to continue mentioning it because everything starts and ends with your eyes at linebacker. In this instance, it works for Winters and the 49ers defense in sniffing out a screen play before it can really develop.
As soon as Michael Penix Jr. gets into his throwing motion to get the ball into the flat, Winters is already gearing up to get in that direction. It ends up being a straight line to the receiver, Falcons TE Kyle Pitts, since the outside corner is blocked by the receiver, and the slot corner is taken away by the receiver lined up just off of the left tackle. It looks like the Falcons' left tackle is supposed to get out into the flat and take care of Winters, but Winters beat him to the punch.
So, what's left is Winters one-on-one with Pitts, who is seven inches taller and nearly 25 pounds heavier. Size and athleticism is great, but you can't use it after the catch if you can't run. Pitts is unable to do so since Winters wrapped right at Pitts' ankles on the play and didn't allow him to get a step up the field, turning it into a tackle for loss.
