FRISCO, Texas — Perrion Winfrey is a redemption story powerful enough to bring Brian Schottenheimer and the Dallas Cowboys' front office to tears, literally. The young defensive lineman was added to the roster in mid-June for what would amount to a tryout at training camp in Oxnard.
Winfrey went on to be a bright spot in camp and throughout the preseason, but that doesn't always equate to surviving final cuts in late August, and the former fourth-round pick knows that all too well — to the point he thought he was being sent to waivers on Tuesday.
Only, he wasn't, and what happened next was enough to tug at anyone's heart strings.
"We brought Perrion Winfrey in, and he assumed he was being cut," said head coach Brian Schotteheimer. "And so he walked in and sat down in my office, and [vice president of player personnel] Will McClay was in there. I did play it up a little bit … I said, 'Hey, these are hard days and there are a lot of hard conversations that have to happen. This is one I've been really looking forward to because I'm telling you that you've made the team.'
"He became very emotional, and then I became emotional. I looked over at McClay and he had become emotional. Talk about a guy that's had this amazing game taken away from him, and you really realize how much these players love this game, what they sacrifice to play this game and what they have to give up and go through — the pounding it takes on their bodies."
But much like Winfrey's career in Dallas, that's not the end of the story, though the current chapter is far more promising than the first one. His NFL career began with the Cleveland Browns but ended after just one season, and following a legal allegation involving a firearm.
He went on to sign with the New York Jets four months later, but remained on their practice squad through the last few games of the season before re-entering free agency.
With no NFL teams calling, Winfrey took his talent to the UFL and the Birmingham Stallions (the former team of All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey) to try and rebuild his brand for another shot at the highest level of football.
After making the All-UFL Team this year, McClay and the Cowboys came a'calling.
Schottenheimer went on to express just how moved he was by Winfrey's reaction, and why it's important to have players like him in the locker room as the Cowboys work to establish a new culture within the locker room and on the field.
"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. "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. "
For his part, Winfrey is all-in for Schotteheimer and Dallas.
"The Cowboys believed in me when nobody else did," he said following a stellar showing in the preseason finale against the Atlanta Falcons. "I'm willing to put my life on the line, my body, whatever, to see this organization win. I'm one of those players that will fight for them, regardless of anything."
It's that type of fire that drove him toward redemption and the Cowboys.
And now it's all about penning the rest of his story the right way.
"Pain and passion, and he means it," Schottenheimer said of Winfrey, fighting back tears. "… If you can't cheer for that, I don't know what you can cheer for."
