Many held out hope that the Dallas Cowboys would select Bijan Robinson from the Texas Longhorns. That dream died early in the first round. But the Cowboys did find a potential star from Austin in Friday's third round, drafting linebacker DeMarvion Overshown.
Overshown had arrived in Austin as a safety and a top high school prospect. But a change to linebacker, and a revolving door of defensive coaches at Texas, slowed his growth.
That showed in his pre-draft prospect grade of 5.96 and an expectation that he would be at best a backup or special teams player. But anyone who watched the Longhorns in the Big 12 over the last two years knows better.
A Solid Senior Campaign
Overshown came off an injury in 2021 and managed to stay healthy for all of 2022. He earned first-team All-Conference honors. His stat line was a solid 96 tackles – 10 for a loss – and four sacks.
The consensus is that he made great strides in his final year in Austin, which propelled him up to a 3rd-or-4th round pick. So once again on Friday, the Cowboys did not reach to land a solid player to fill a need.
A Terror For NFL Quarterbacks
Its hard not to look at this pick and think that Overshown wasn't brought in to help keep a running quarterback – hello there, Jalen Hurts – from running wild. Look for him to blitz early and often. But he can also drop back into coverage.
Can anyone say Micah Parsons II? He does remind me of Parsons a little. If he turns into another Parsons, I'd almost start to feel sorry for the rest of the NFL's Quarterback fraternity. Almost.
Some Negatives To Overcome
Overshown will need to put in a lot of work over the summer. Fortunately he has a great defensive coordinator waiting to welcome him to The Star. Dan Quinn knows how to utilize players like Overshown and how to improve them too.
His biggest areas of concern will be how he gets off of blocks, something he was not that good at down in Austin. He'll also need to work on his open-field tackling. He allowed too many ball carriers to work their way out of tackles. He can't be doing that at the NFL level.
Grading The Pick
Could Dallas have looked at the offensive line here? Probably. The Chiefs just two picks later selected offensive tackle Wanya Morris out of Oklahoma. So there was value at the position to be had.
They could have addressed a couple of other positions here. But at the end of the day, Overshown's upside is such that its very hard to argue them picking him here.
The happiest man in Frisco tonight has got to be Quinn. His defense has been greatly strengthened in this draft. Between the Cowboys moves in free agency, and drafting a tight end that seems poised to upgrade the offense, Quinn's defense may not have to go out and win games by shutout.
We'll give this pick a nice “B” and on to tomorrow night.
