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Dee Winters was traded to the Cowboys by the San Francisco 49ers

The Dallas Cowboys are probably not done finding ways to fill in at linebacker, but without a doubt, what had been a gaping hole heading into Friday’s Day 2 of the NFL draft has become much less gaping. That’s because the Cowboys finally pulled off a trade for a layer they’d been eyeing for some time: linebacker Dee Winters of the 49ers, who was acquired for a fifth-round pick.

Winters started all 17 games for the 49ers last season, but the team is getting linebacker Dre Greenlaw back, and was expecting to see Winters stuck with a reduced role after a breakout 2025 season. Winters is just 25 and recorded 101 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, five passes defensed, and one interception returned for a touchdown.

The Cowboys probably could get by with Winters in the middle of the defense, and he will have a chance to win the starting job but they are expected to continue to look to add to that spot.

Dee Winters ‘One of the Favorites’

Either way, it appears that the Cowboys got a nice score with Winters, and no matter his role, he should be good for the locker room. In the Bay Area, there was some lament that the team was losing a guy who had been very popular in the locker room.

Winters’ name had come up last month when the Cowboys and 49ers worked out the Osa Odighizuwa trade.

Said 49ers GM John Lynch: “We made that trade today, and that’s tough because Dee’s a guy who’s done a lot for us here. Sixth-round pick out of TCU, but Dee is one of the favorite guys in that locker room amongst his teammates. He’s done a lot for us on the field.

“We just felt like we were in a good position at linebacker, and Dallas has been really interested in him for a long time. And I’d say the talks probably started with myself and Stephen Jones, when we were talking about [DT] Osa [Odighizuwa]. They’ve stayed on that. We kind of held it off for a while, and as we got there today, we just felt like it was the right thing to do for our team.

“It’s a good opportunity for Dee. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for him to shine, and just very grateful for Dee’s time here and all his contributions he made to our squad.”

Cowboys Still Adding LBs?

Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer left the starting linebacker role open when discussing the Winters trade on Friday, but he did indicate that Winters would be in the mix for the job. “We don’t have to make that decision today,” Schottenheimer said.

And again, the Cowboys are probably not done with the linebacker group, which now includes DeMarvion Overshown, Winters, Barham, Shemar James, and Justin Barron.

“There’s work to be done. We’re still building the room,” Jones said. “We needed to rebuild it. As [defensive coordinator Christian Parker] said, I think we only had two chairs in the room before the draft so, no, we need to keep being creative there and add players and have competition. So we’ll certainly give that a good going over as we look at a situation [Saturday].”