Who would you say has the biggest potential to break out for the Dallas Cowboys this season? Before you answer, just know that ESPN provided theirs this week.
On Wednesday the worldwide leader offered breakout candidates for every team this season, and their selection for the Cowboys is both surprising and chalk. It is hard to be those things at the same time, but it happens.
DeMarvion Overshown, LB
This is less of a breakout and more of a re-breakout. Overshown lost his 2023 rookie year to a torn ACL in the preseason. When he returned to action in Week 1 of 2024, he was so ridiculously fast on an otherwise slow Cowboys defense that it was impossible not to notice him. Then came a torn ACL, MCL and PCL 13 weeks later, which ended his 2024 campaign early and followed him all the way into 2025.
Overshown did not look like himself after returning last season in Week 11 — he had only one TFL in six games after posting eight in 13 games during the 2024 season. He cleared 19 mph in top speed seven separate times in the 2024 season, per NFL Next Gen Stats; he never cleared it in 2025. As he gets further away from the injury, he’ll hopefully recover the top speed that allowed him to play sideline to sideline and trigger quickly on those behind-the-line opportunities.
Let’s establish that we are on the same page: Overshown playing well would exponentially help the Cowboys. Recently we posted something where I said he individually has the potential to change the season the most.
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The situation feels similar as to how we collectively viewed Randy Gregory a few years ago. Obviously circumstances were very different, but things reached a point with Gregory to where it made sense to adopt a philosophy of “whatever you get is icing on the cake” as opposed to relying on him. To that point, with all due respect, relying on Overshown would be irresponsible given that he has missed so much time through his professional career.
It makes sense then that ESPN is labeling this potential as a “re-breakout” for Overshown. It is certainly true that he set the world on fire in 2024 before he was injured, but the unfortunate truth is that right now that stretch of time is the outlier across the whole of his career. We all are rooting in unison for that to become the norm, but this just feels a little unlikely.
None of this is said to criticize selecting Overshown for this exercise. Perhaps being more removed from the injury, as ESPN noted, will help that outlier be what we see more often.
Time will tell, but odds feel higher for other players to “break out” over Overshown. Maybe someone like Shavon Revel realizing the potential the Cowboys saw in him when they drafted him. Or how about sticking at the linebacker position and going with Jaishawn Barham? He’s a rookie, but the opportunities are going to be there for someone to benefit.
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Do you agree with DeMarvion Overshown as the pick? Why or why not?
Let us know in the comments below.
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