Blogging The Boys
Questions are going to linger at linebacker for a little bit.
Last year was a tough season for the Dallas Cowboys. They were losing games, injuries were piling up, and it became very evident early in the season that this team wasn’t going anywhere. That’s not a common thing for this organization. The team experienced a similar ordeal in 2020, but outside of that, lost seasons have not really been a thing for the Cowboys.
With all the bad things that went wrong last year, there might not have been a worse event than the DeMarvion Overshown injury. Yes, many players got hurt, and yes, one of them was a season-ending hamstring injury to the team’s franchise quarterback, Dak Prescott. But for many of the hurt players, we knew they would heal up and be ready to go next year. That’s not the case for Overshown.
A third-round pick in 2023, Overshown has been a player the team has loved from the beginning. A celebrating war room on draft day served as a testament to what they felt they got. Sadly, his rookie season was taken away from him after he suffered a torn ACL in a preseason game.
Last season, he returned, healthy as an ox, but fast as a gazelle. Overshown gave us a dose of his athleticism as he was all over the field. His length and great closing speed made him one of the defense's top players. His playmaking ability made him worth the wait, but sadly, an injury struck again. In Week 14 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Overshown injured his knee again, but this time it was much worse. He tore his ACL, MCL, and PCL, bringing a dark cloud over the career of the team’s young defensive superstar.
According to reports, Overshown’s rehab is progressing nicely, and there is some optimism that a mid-season return could happen. When he returns and what he’s able to do this soon are big mysteries, and it’s reasonable to lower our expectations for the upcoming season. When you look at the range of outcomes, the likelihood of him either missing the entire year or coming back late and having a limited impact seems rather large. Only time will tell.
Overshown had a great debut season. Despite missing the last quarter of the season, he still finished second on the team with 90 tackles. He also finished tied for third with five sacks and had the team’s most spectacular defensive play when he tipped the ball to himself and returned an interception for a touchdown. Before his injury, he was a star in the making, but now there is this great uncertainty about what type of player he can be.
This is something the Cowboys will need to figure out sooner rather than later. With little information likely to work with from the upcoming season, the team will have a big decision to make. They can extend him next offseason before he enters the final year of his rookie...
