Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown added weight as he rehabbed from ACL tear

Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, the former Texas Longhorn, was an early star in last year’s training camp. It seemed a near certainty that the rookie would see playing time once the regular season started.

Then came the ACL tear in Seattle, when the Cowboys were playing a mid-August preseason game against the Seahawks. Meaningless game, very meaningful injury. It took him out of his rookie year before it truly began.

But it’s all a past memory. Overshown is bulkier and is ahead of schedule with his rehab. It takes about a year to recover from an ACL tear and subsequent surgery. Yet coaches are expecting Overshown back at full strength by the start of training camp in late July.

And Overshown will look like a different player. For one, he switched numbers to 13. Plus, he added a dozen pounds of muscle to better play weakside linebacker.

“I’ve definitely gotten bigger since last year,” Overshown told reporters this week as the Cowboys began phase three of OTAs. “That was more of a me thing. And seeing my future in this league and what’s gonna be best for my body — to be productive on the field — and that was gaining weight.”

He added: “And not just gaining weight in general, but gaining lean mass, muscle weight and getting stronger. I’ve put about 12-13 pounds of lean mass on, and I’m gonna go into camp a little bigger and then drop down to where I wanna play at, which will be around 233 or 234 [pounds].”

Before the Cowboys drafted him, DeMarvion Overshown was an All-Big 12 player for the Longhorns. (Courtesy of Texas Athletics)

It’s almost like the Cowboys got an added draft pick this year with a healthy Overshown. Dallas used a third-round selection on him in the 2023 draft. Then because of the injury, he never saw the field.

That’s about to change. He’s again creating a buzz as new coordinator Mike Zimmer installs his defense. Zimmer prefers his linemen and linebackers to be bulkier. So Overshown is there at 6-foot-3, 230.

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy talked up Overshown this week.

“D-Mo actually looks really good,” McCarthy said. “We’re respecting the timeline. If I was a doctor, which I’m not, I’d say he’s a little ahead of schedule.

“He was climbing. He was climbing the charts,” McCarthy said of Overshown’s training camp surge in 2023. “Showed up right away in the offseason program, just his ability to fly around. Really has excellent command.”

But there still are several weeks to go before Overshown gets the all-clear.

“It’s kinda crazy, I ain’t played football going on a year now,” the Cowboys linebacker said. “That’s been the longest I haven’t played since I started playing and that was [at] 6 years old.”