2024 Roster Review: Backup Linebackers – Part 14 of 17. Click here to view all articles in this series.
The Dallas Cowboys did not have a good year regarding their linebackers in 2023.
They lost their middle linebacker, and anchor, Leighton Vander Esch five games into the season. Rookie third round pick, DeMarvion Overshown, got hurt in the preseason.
He might be able to play in his first NFL game in September.
The remaining four players listed at linebacker that served as backups – when Dan Quinn wasn’t playing safeties as undersized linebackers – underwhelmed.
They weren’t exactly a Who’s Who of the position. They were more like: Who’s That?
It will be interesting to see how many, if any, of the four after Overshown make the final roster after training camp.
DeMarvion Overshown
Overshown clearly has potential. He’s an outside linebacker though, and likely not a candidate to replace Vander Esch in the middle.
So he will have to fight it out with Damone Clark to start opposite of Micah Parsons.
If Agent 0 can come all the way back from the knee injury suffered last August in Seattle, he should be able to help shore up the position.
Watching his performance in the upcoming mini-camp and training camp later this year will go a long way in telling how his 2024 season will go.
Buddy Johnson
Johnson was a 2021 draft pick of the Steelers. He was cut before the 2022 season began and did not play a single game that year.
After spending time in 2023 on the practice squads in San Francisco and Chicago, Johnson landed on the Cowboys’ practice squad.
He saw action in the final two games, mostly on special teams. He did record four tackles against Washington in the season finale.
Johnson is signed through the end of the 2025 season and becomes a restricted free agent in 2026.
He has potential. But he has a lot of work to do to earn more playing time.
Malik Jefferson
Jefferson appeared in three games for Dallas in 2023.
The Texas alum had a total of three tackles for the season. One was for a loss.
But the last time he saw the field was on Oct. 16th – the sixth week of the season.
He did not play a single snap in the 11 games that followed.
Originally a third round pick of the Bengals in 2018, Jefferson is a free agent this year.
It seems unlikely that he’ll return to Dallas in 2024.
Devin Harper
Harper began the year in Dallas and played in the first three games of the season.
He had three tackles over the first two games but did not record a stat in the Week 3 loss at Arizona. Of his 52 total snaps in a Cowboys’ uniform in 2023, only three came on defense, the rest on special teams.
By Week 4 he was in Cincinnati and fared little better in a Bengals uniform.
Rashaan Evans
The Cowboys brought Evans in for the 2023 season on a one-year contract.
He gave them nine games, including one as a starter. He also gave them nine tackles.
Evans is also an inside linebacker.
At 28 years old, he could be an option to bring back and help out whoever Dallas eventually tabs as Vander Esch’s replacement.
A Room In Need
No matter what, the Cowboys have a lot of work to do this spring in both free agency and the draft.
The need a new starting middle linebacker. But they need better depth at the position as well.
The good news is that they have an abundance of defensive backs they will be trimming from the roster.
At least three of those roster cuts need to be refilled with a linebacker in 2024.