Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown views ACL injury as 'blessing in disguise'

Agent Zero is very nearly back. Translation, Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown‘s knee is feeling good and he’s back horsing around with fans as he aims to be healthy by training camp.

Overshown is the former Texas Longhorn star linebacker who went to the Cowboys, the team he grew up loving, in the third round of last year’s NFL Draft. Everyone expected Overshown to have an aggressive impact on the defense. But the linebacker tore his ACL last August as he tried to make a tackle near the sidelines at Lumen Field in Seattle. An otherwise meaningless preseason game cost Overshown his rookie season.

But he told Cowboys.com this week that he is right on schedule with his recovery.

“We’re pushing right at six months out,” Overshown said. “Everything is going good. We’re starting to move around. We’re ahead of the curve. It’s just a process…This isn’t what my rookie year was supposed to be, but you get up and you do it every day.”

He added “This ain’t no setback in my career. This is me being ready so I can attack the season how I was supposed to last year.”

Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs is in the same situation with his ACL. Like Overshown, he also is on track for training camp. He also rehabbed with fellow rookies John Stephens Jr. and wide receiver David Durden. Like Overshown, the rookies ripped their ACLs.

Overshown said they all helping each other, especially with the mental side of injury recovery.

“All of those guys, they make it so much easier,” the Cowboys linebacker said. “It’s days where you can find yourself in a dark place. But you get there and you’re laughing and cutting up with those guys and seeing that they’re going through the same process. I just see this as a blessing in disguise. It will make me a better football player, a better teammate, a better man and all of that in general.”

And, there is always a separate competition between the rehabbing guys, but obviously, within reason.

“You compete, you make everything like a football game,” Overshown said. “Our jumps, who can do the most on bench [press] today, who got the better numbers. Making scenarios and competing with guys, it keeps us happy to go up there.”

Earlier this week, Overshown, the pride of Arp, Texas, was hanging out with fans at an event with Academy Sports + Outdoors, just north of Cowboys headquarters in Frisco. There were games involved. He signed autographs and played games. Next up, Cowboys training camp.