Cowboys news: DeMarvion Overshown ready for regular season debut
NFL X factors for 2024 season: LB DeMarvion Overshown – Ben Solak, ESPN
All eyes on Overshown.
I hope you love something in your life the same way Dan Quinn loves converting a safety to a linebacker. The former Dallas defensive coordinator did it with Keanu Neal in 2021 as the former Falcon tried to extend his career, with undrafted free agent Markquese Bell last season and with veteran Jayron Kearse at different times over the past three years (though the team still called him a safety, that man was playing linebacker). Then, in what turned out to be Quinn’s final season in Dallas, the team drafted Overshown, a college safety-to-linebacker convert.
New defensive coordinator (and former Vikings head coach) Mike Zimmer has historically used linebacker-sized linebackers to make his defense work, and he brought in longtime Viking Eric Kendricks accordingly. Kendricks’ best football is behind him, however, and if the veteran is forced into a starting role beside Damone Clark, the Cowboys will struggle in coverage over the middle of the field.
Overshown is Dallas’ best bet at finding a three-down linebacker on the roster — better than Bell, Kendricks or 2024 third-round selection Marist Liufau. Of the undersized options, he has the sideline-to-sideline range and violence into contact that will remain viable against the run. If he converts two promising preseasons into successful regular-season play, he’ll quickly become a playmaker Zimmer deploys on his complex blitzes, too.
DeMarvion Overshown full go for Cowboys opener vs. Browns: ‘I’m ready to strap ‘em up’ – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
Overshown showed amazing flashes before his ACL tear last year during the preseason. Now, he’s healthy and ready to go.
Having added muscle to his frame and moving as well as he ever has, the expectation is that it should take no time at all for Overshown to find his NFL legs, regardless of one of them housing a reconstructed knee, seeing as he’s coming off of yet another exceptional training camp.
But, this time, he’s walking into the month of September completely whole.
That includes mentally as well.
“It’s a blessing to be able to strap on my cleats again,” he said. “It’s a lot of guys who called it a career [on cutdowns day] and the day before that. Just being able to do it — I’m already excited about playing football, in general, but doing it with this organization and with my brothers who’ve seen the process of me rehabbing, doing everything I could to get back to playing in regular season games; and all of the emotions, excitement is there.
“I’m ready to strap ‘em up, for real.”
Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey believes Cooper Beebe will be great for Dallas Cowboys – RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys
Cooper Beebe gets the nod from the best player at his position.
When the Dallas Cowboys begin play in Week 1 they will do so with a new starter under center for the first time in a while. Tyler Biadasz manned the middle for Dallas for four seasons and did so admirably given the tall shadow he entered following Travis Frederick’s retirement in the early days of 2020. With Biadasz leaving in free agency to the Washington Commanders, it was always known that somebody new would be the starter in Week 1. But then Cooper Beebe happened.
Dallas traded back in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft with the Detroit Lions and picked up a third-round pick in the process. After landing starting left tackle Tyler Guyton with their new first round pick, they had to wait a night to see what the extra change became and ultimately it was Beebe.
That they are two birds gotten with a single stone is a cool thing in and of its own right, but that Beebe is going to start as a center is nothing short of impressive. He fought off Brock Hoffman for the honors throughout training camp and is now absorbing some serious responsibility.
Recently I was able to talk to the best center in the NFL these days, Creed Humphrey of the Kansas City Chiefs. Aside from the obvious Chiefs talking points I asked him if he knew much about Beebe and he said absolutely and that he thinks highly of him.
Ten overlooked NFL rookies who showed serious flashes in preseason – Bucky Brooks, NFL.com
Brooks includes Beebe in his list of overlooked preseason standouts.
The Cowboys’ playoff chances hinge on the performance of an offensive line that is expected to include two rookie starters, with Beebe at center and first-round pick Tyler Guyton at left tackle. Beebe is a big part of the team’s plans to play “bully ball” on the ground while providing fortress-like protection around Dak Prescott. The rookie has shown impressive skills controlling the point of attack from the pivot. With a pair of Pro Bowl-caliber blockers (guards Tyler Smith and Zack Martin) around him, Beebe could play like an all-star in Year 1.
3 reasons Dak Prescott would be crazy to re-sign with Cowboys now – K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire
Dak Prescott has all the leverage in the negotiation department with the Cowboys.
Even if Prescott intends to remain with the Dallas organization, why would he not maximize his value? The 2025 free agent market is absolutely barren, unless Russell Wilson or Justin Fields rejuvenates their stock to a tremendous level this year.
The bidding war for Prescott would be absolutely insane, regardless of what his detractors think about him. Prescott is a proven winner with a .640 regular season winning percentage, and has two top-six MVP finishes in his eight years. Kirk Cousins has a career .531 winning percentage, has never sniffed an MVP vote is 36 and just got $45 million a season.
With Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa signing extensions with their team, there’s going to be a bidding war, especially with the 2022 QB class falling into the abyss already.
No Easy Solution To Solve Who’s Next – Mickey Spagnola, DallasCowbys.com
Spagnola trotting out the tired, overused, and easily disproved “but it’s the cap” defense.
But what most don’t understand, Dak’s deal is complicated, and more complicated than those recently signed by some of the younger guns out there like Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa. Those were their second contracts, with no leftover financial baggage. This is Dak’s third that’s grown over the years with restructures needing to be accounted for.
And none of this has anything to do with the Cowboys having cold feet about Dak’s ability to play quarterback in this NFL. Nor on the other side does this have anything to do with Dak having no care if he continues his career with the Cowboys or not.
Says Jerry, “And so Dak’s situation right now for me, from my [point of view], has more to do with our situation than it does with the merits of Dak Prescott being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.”
And so many regularly dismiss how much the almighty salary cap has to do with these negotiations. The NFL cap, unlike these other professional leagues, is strict. It’s unforgiving.
Yes, the Cowboys can always restructure base salaries and add those artificially bloated voided years at the end of the contract.
Dak Prescott is on track to becoming the biggest free agent since Reggie White – Mike Florio, PFT
Remember when Kirk Cousins hit free agency in 2018? He signed a landmark 3-year, fully guaranteed contract with the Vikings. Just sayin’ …
If Prescott becomes an unrestricted and unfettered free agent, he’ll arguably be the biggest free agent since the original free agent, Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White.
White avoided the franchise tag in 1993 because he was one of the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit that forced the league to create real free agency, subject to the tag. Since then, few marquee players have made it to the open market.
Sure, other great players have become free agents and made plenty of money on the open market. Tom Brady did, and he delivered a Super Bowl win in his first year with the Buccaneers. Peyton Manning did, after the Colts cut him.
But one of them was old and the other was injured. Prescott would be the rare young (by quarterback standards) franchise-level starting quarterback to become a free agent. The only other one was Kirk Cousins, in 2018.
Prescott is more accomplished than Cousins was. And Prescott comes from the highest-profile team in all of football.
5 things to watch for in the 2024 Cowboys season – Joe Trahan, WFAA
With a revamped offensive line and a running back by committee, these two positions will have plenty of eyes on them.
4. The Offensive Line
The Cowboys are retooling the offensive line and relying on a pair of rookies while doing so. In the NFL, that’s far from ideal.
The early returns on top pick Tyler Guyton are universally positive. His athleticism jumps off the screen, but it’s also obvious that his technique needs work. He’ll be on an island against some of the best pass-rushers in the league and there will be lessons learned. Cowboys fans have to hope those lessons aren’t too painful for Guyton or Dak Prescott.
It’s a similar story line for center Cooper Beebe. It’s not just athletic for him, though. It’s academic. He’ll have to be assignment sound and understand the Cowboys blocking concepts to communicate to the group. It’s a ton to pickup for a rookie. Here’s hoping Beebe can come close to replicating what former Cowboys center Travis Frederick did for this offensive line years ago.
5. Who’s the running back???
Full transparency –and this is with all due respect to Ezekiel Elliott – I rolled my eyes when the news broke that he would be coming back. Elliott has been a great soldier in his time with the Cowboys, and he’s a locker room plus. But none of that will help his production this season. The hope is he’ll be able to help in goal-to-go situations, but Father Time is not kind to running backs, especially those who have put hard miles on their body like Elliott.