FRISCO — The Dallas Cowboys plan to place defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey on injured reserve with a back injury, per a team announcement. A corresponding move on the 53-man roster has yet to be determined.
Winfrey hasn’t practiced since Aug. 31. He was helped off the practice field by two Cowboys staff members. Winfrey was later seen in the locker room moving around under his own power.
The Cowboys now have five players on injured reserve who are eligible to return. Players placed on injured reserve must miss a minimum of four weeks before they can be activated. Once they’re cleared to practice, they have a 21-day window, from the start of that first practice, where they can return to the active roster. After 21 days, the team must either trade or release the player if they haven’t been activated yet.
NFL teams are allowed to return eight players per regular season from injured reserve. An individual player can be activated off injured reserve a maximum of twice.
Cowboys
The loss of Winfrey not only opens up another spot on the roster, but potentially opens a door for former first-round pick Mazi Smith to return into the fold. Smith was inactive for the season opener on Thursday, marking the first time he had been a healthy scratch in his career.
Winfrey was one of the last players to make the Cowboys’ roster.
Winfrey originally was originally a fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma by the Cleveland Browns in 2022. He was released in the summer of 2023 after multiple legal incidents. He spent time on the practice squad for the New York Jets, but wasn’t re-signed after the 2023 season. Winfrey went on to excel for the Birmingham Stallions of the UFL before the Cowboys signed him this offseason.
Winfrey played well during training camp and during the preseason, placing him firmly on the roster bubble heading into cutdown day.
Winfrey thought he was getting cut. He even told his agent the news. That’s why it was such a surprise when he went into head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s office to find out his fate.
“‘These are hard days and there are a lot of hard conversations that have to happen, but this is one I’ve really been looking forward to,’” Schottenheimer recalled telling him, “‘because I’m telling you that you’ve made the team.’ And he became very emotional. And then I became emotional. I looked over at [Will] McClay and he was emotional.”
Winfrey’s return to the NFL regular season will now be on hold, however, as he recovers from his injury.
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.