Cowboys Linebackers are Young, But 2026 Demands Proof

The Dallas Cowboys linebacker room is young and mostly unproven, but 2026 will be the year for youth to takeover.

This is not a room leaning on worn-down veterans, patched-up bodies and one-year stopgaps just trying to survive another season. The Cowboys have youth, speed, and players who should still be climbing.

Young is good, but is it enough?

When I look at the linebackers—DeMarvion Overshown, Dee Winters, Marist Liufau, Shemar James, Jaishawn Barham, Justin Barron, Curtis Robinson, and Langston Patterson — I see a room with athletic ability.

This linebacker group gives Dallas bodies and options, but what it doesn’t give Dallas yet is the same thing the best linebacker rooms in football already have: a proven heartbeat.

Cowboys Linebackers Age Compared to Top NFL Rooms

This is not about every linebacker on every 90-man roster. This is about comparing the Cowboys’ main linebacker group to several of the league’s stronger, more proven linebacker groups.

The chart tells me something important.

The Cowboys aren’t behind because they are old. They are behind because the other rooms have already found their guy.

Dallas Has Youth, But the Top Rooms Have Answers

The Eagles are the closest age comparison to Dallas and that matters because Philadelphia isn’t winning the linebacker conversation because its room is older or more physically mature.

It wins because Zach Baun gives the Eagles high-level production. That’s the difference. Dallas has players who might become kind of player, but Philadelphia already has one.

Baltimore has the same type of luxury with Roquan Smith. He is one of the best linebackers in the NFL, the kind who settles a defense before the ball is snapped.

San Francisco has Fred Warner, and he is still the gold standard. The 49ers were older at linebacker than Dallas, but that age comes with receipts. Warner has seen every trick in the book. He’s not just running to the ball. He is diagnosing before it becomes a mess.

Detroit may be the lesson for the Cowboys. The Lions are not built around an old linebacker. They are built around Jack Campbell, who is still only 25 and just signed a major extension after an All-Pro season.

Right now, the Cowboys are just young and hopeful.

The Cowboys Need One Player to Take the Room Over

I like the Cowboys’ linebacker room more than most. I think they have built a young room with tremendous upside.

Overshown has the athletic ability to be dangerous, we’ve seen it, he just has to stay healthy. Winters could be the veteran leader the defense needs at only 25 years old. Barham brings the frame and tools to be a problem for offenses. Shemar James brings youth (21) and a year in the NFL.

Filling out the room is Barron, who has been with the Cowboys and is still young with position flex, being a former safety. Robinson adds experience, and Patterson gives them another developmental body.

That’s not a bad collection of players, but a collection is not the same thing as a core.

The top rooms have someone the defense can lean on when the games get ugly. That’s what Dallas needs to find.

When it’s third-and-3 and the offense motions the tight end across the formation, who gets everybody lined up?

When the guard pulls and the running back presses the front side, who fits it clean and keeps a five-yard run from turning into a busted play?

This is where I think one of the linebackers must step up and take charge this season.

The Average Age Gives Dallas Hope, Not a Free Pass

I think the Cowboys, averaging around 24 years old at linebacker, should be viewed as a good thing. I would much rather have a young room with upside than an aging group stuck in neutral.

But nobody in the NFL is handing out wins for having young legs.

The Cowboys have candidates and that’s not a terrible place to be in May. This is the time of the year when teams are allowed to believe in development, but by September, belief has to turn to answers.

I like that the Cowboys have a linebacker room with enough youth to be exciting. It has the athletic ability to fit what modern defenses need.

The pieces are there for Christian Parker to get creative.

Now one of them has to become the heartbeat because the chart does not say Dallas is too old.

It says Dallas is still waiting on proof.