The Cowboys landed a linebacker on Day 2 of the NFL draft, but he wasn’t a hot up-and-coming college prospect. In fact, he apparently wasn’t even the team’s first choice.
According to ESPN’s Todd Archer and NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the Cowboys targeted Houston’s Azeez Al-Shaair before landing on a different target.
Dallas traded a fifth-round pick on Friday — during the draft — to the 49ers in exchange for three-year veteran Dee Winters, a former TCU product who started all 17 games last year for San Francisco and led that club’s defense in both tackles and TFLs.
Winters is an immediate upgrade for a Cowboys linebacker corps that’s thin on experience and heavy on question marks. DeMarvion Overshown is the leader of the group but has been healthy enough to appear in just 19 out of 51 games since being drafted. Shemar James and Justin Barron were the only other linebackers on the Dallas roster entering draft weekend. But with more pressing needs in the secondary and at edge rusher, the organization elected to use their early selections on those spots and look to bring in a veteran linebacker via a trade.
Al-Shaair went undrafted out of Florida Atlantic in 2019 and spent his first four seasons with the 49ers and then a year in Tennessee before landing with the Texans in 2024. Last season saw him tally triple-digit tackles for the third time in his career, leading the team in that category and earning his first Pro Bowl nod.
But talks with the Texans about prying away their 2025 Walter Payton Man of the Year club winner went nowhere. The Cowboys regrouped and moved on instead to the 49ers and Winters.
Winters had been previously identified as a potential fit in Dallas during talks between the two clubs that eventually sent Osa Odighizuwa to San Francisco.
“This is a process that’s been going on for some time to try and make this happen,” Cowboys inside linebackers coach Scott Symons said of the Winters acquisition. “I’ve been a huge advocate for it.”
On Wednesday, the Texans extended Al-Shaair through the 2029 season with a reported $54 million deal, ahead of what was to be a contract year for the 28-year-old.
Winters is set to earn just over $3.6 million in base salary in Dallas and is on the final year of his rookie contract.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Report: Cowboys tried to trade for Texans’ Pro Bowl LB before Dee Winters deal
Reporting by Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
