Help is indeed on the way for the Dallas Cowboys’ defense, and on the heels of what was one of their best two showings of the entire season in their dismantling of the Washington Commanders to move into second place in the division, just ahead of some great news regarding DeMarvion Overshown.
Overshown is expected to have his 21-day practice window activated on Wednesday, as the Cowboys begin practice to prepare for the Denver Broncos. The young linebacker posted “T-21” via X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday, but the team will not officially make the move for another two days.
To do so would effectively waste two days of the 21-day clock, a timer that’s based on calendar days and not actual number of practices. That said, waiting until Wednesday, the first practice of the week, will also give the Cowboys until Nov. 12 before they’re forced to make a decision on the remainder of Overshown’s season.
They would need to either activate him from injured reserve to the 53-man roster by that date, or he’d revert to season-ending IR.
As a related sidebar, the Cowboys will also activate wide receiver Jonathan Mingo from IR to the active roster this week, returning from a knee injury suffered in the preseason.
“We’ll activate [Mingo], for sure,” said executive vice president and director of player personnel Stephen Jones to 105.3 the Fan. “So he’ll be moving up and on the roster, and competing to get snaps. That receiving room has gotten pretty spicy, so he’s gonna have to get in there. He’s got an element to his game that we don’t have — rare size and speed, and he’s a physical player, and he’ll be one to get on the field.”
The timing of Overshown’s return to practice also includes the Cowboys’ bye week, a strategic move hinted at by head coach Brian Schottenheimer when initially speaking on the proposed timeline for Overshown’s return to the practice field. If Overshown returns after the bye, his first potential opponent will be the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 17, giving him an opportunity to try and get up to speed before facing the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium on Nov. 23.
Of course, the Cowboys do reserve the right to activate him from IR at any point during the 21-day window, and don’t have to wait until after the bye to do so — though the latter would seem the more prudent and wise decision.
“He is so fired up,” said executive vice president and director of player personnel Stephen Jones to 105.3 the Fan. “He’ll start to work back in. … He’s been itching at the bit to get back, but we wanted to make sure that after coming back from two injuries, unfortunately, that he was 100 percent and ready to go. He’s gonna have to have that ramp up period where he’s gotta get in football shape.
“He didn’t get any work in the offseason or training camp, so obviously there’s work to do there. It’ll probably take the fully allotted three weeks for him to get prepared, but hopefully after that bye, he’ll be ready to play football.”
Overshown successfully overcame a torn ACL that deleted his rookie season before firing out of the game in explosive fashion in Year 2, before suffering a torn ACL in his other knee after an opponent was rolled up onto his leg. He’s flown through the benchmarks this time around, well-versed in how to do so from his previous injury, and long predicted he’d return prior to Thanksgiving, when the Cowboys will host Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
And now donning the No. 0, a first in franchise history, Overshown will soon rejoin a Cowboys’ defense that has searched for answers in the realm of consistency and explosiveness — hoping to return as if he was never forced to leave in the first place.
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