FRISCO, Texas — More reinforcements are on the way for the Dallas Cowboys' defensive line, if you can believe it. Headlines have, to this point, been justifiably owned by Kenny Clark following his acquisition during the Micah Parsons trade in early September, and a blockbuster trade in early November for Quinnen Williams means a combined six Pro Bowls now lead the defensive tackle depth chart.
Flying under the radar this entire time has been Perrion Winfrey, one of the biggest standouts in this year's training camp prior to Clark and Williams landing in Dallas.
He's one whose journey to earning a spot on the 53-man roster was an emotional rollercoaster that ultimately proved to the Cowboys that Winfrey is precisely the type of passionate player willing to leave it all on the field for the Cowboys.
"The emotion of it, seeing Perrion react like that, showed me two things: the passion he has for this game and the pain he's had to go through of having it taken away from him, and not knowing if this would work out or not," said Schottenheimer at the time. "I told him, 'The reason we wanted to do it is because we wanted to see your reaction. We figured you'd react this [way].' He did not disappoint.
"He's a special young man. … who deserves this opportunity, and has earned it."
That path was halted abruptly by a back injury suffered shortly ahead of the regular season opener that forced him to injured reserve, where he's spent the entirety of the season, to this point, recovering and clawing his way back to action.
Now activated from IR heading into the Week 12 bout against the Philadelphia Eagles, the time has come for Winfrey to try and pick up where he left off in training camp — for what is suddenly, arguably, the deepest and best defensive tackle group in the entire NFL.
In an exclusive Q&A with DallasCowboys.com, the former fourth-round pick of the Cleveland Browns turned New York Jets defensive lineman under Aaron Whitecotton turned All-UFL talent for the Birmingham Stallions, and now critical depth piece for the Cowboys, says he's effectively worked up a lather to get his hands on opposing players after nearly three calendar months of starvation.
On being activated from injured reserve in Week 12:
"God is good, man. And seeing how the defense dominated last week and just seeing that I'm getting activated after a performance like that, it gets me nothing but excited knowing that I can contribute to that, and we can just build on that performance. I'm just excited to get back out there. It's going to be my first live action, real game [NFL] since 2023. I'm just blessed to be out there, for real."
On how he maintained his mental health and focus while rehabbing:
"Just knowing that everything happened for a reason, and just keeping myself locked in it, for real. You know, I had a whole UFL season. I already played 11 games, so just knowing that maybe God was slowing me down a little bit, letting my body get back used to playing football for this amount of time, and just allowing myself to stay in it, knowing that my time was going to come; and just knowing that I was here for a reason that eventually that I was going to be where I needed to be."
On Quinnen Williams and the new-look defensive tackles group:
"Dominance, man, Dominance. That's all we talk about. That's all we talk about: being the best in the world, and we continue to tell ourselves that every day. And with the addition of Quennin, man, you just saw how it brought our room together more, and just made us want to just go harder for each other. You saw how much of a dominant force he was, and that made everybody around just want to dominate more, because they saw him making plays like, 'F-ck it, we gotta make plays too. Everybody is just chasing after the one common goal and I feel like that's real dope."
On the importance of not looking at playoff odds going forward:
"I feel like we do a good job, and Schotty does a good job of keeping us focused every week. We're 0-0. Last week, we won that week, but that's over. Now, we're focused on this week and trying to be 1-0 this week. Just focus on the week and keep the main goal, the main goal, and try to stay focused on those things that matter."
On what he's bringing to the field in his return:
"I'm going to make sure that I do a good job of just going to the edge as much as I can and bring in juice and passion and energy, but making sure that I do a good job of doing the things that I need to do, and not contribute to any flags or anything like that. I'm bringing violence, effort and an unwavering faith in my abilities, for sure."
