Cowboys-49ers trade grades: Dallas sends fifth-round pick for LB Dee Winters to fill key need

Winters will have an opportunity to start as the Cowboys' green dot middle linebacker in Dallas' remade defense

FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys entered the 2026 NFL Draft with a laundry list of defensive needs after allowing 30.1 points per game in 2025 -- the most in the league and the second-most in a season in franchise history. The Cowboys improved at safety and edge rusher last night; however, the middle inside linebacker spot next to DeMarvion Overshown remained a significant vacancy after it was manned by the departed Kenneth Murray last season. 

The Cowboys addressed that need Friday night in the middle of the second round by trading a fifth-round pick, No. 152 overall, to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for linebacker Dee Winters, a 2023 sixth-round pick out of TCU.

Winters will return to his college stomping grounds in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex after starting 27 games for the 49ers across the last two seasons, including all 17 games in 2025. He totaled career-highs in tackles (101), interceptions (one, a pick-six of Philip Rivers), passes defensed (five) and tackles for loss (eight) in 2025. 

Let's take a look at trade grades to see how each squad made out in this Day 2 draft deal.

Dallas Cowboys: B+

Dallas desperately needed juice at the middle linebacker spot after a disastrous 2025 from Murray, Jack Sanborn and Logan Wilson at that spot. Winters' 101 tackles led San Francisco after he started all 17 games, and he's a steady player with good eye discipline who goes where he's supposed to be on a given play. Yes, that sounds elementary, but that's how bad things were at that spot in Dallas.

This deal is also a low-risk move for the Cowboys, since it's a fifth-round pick for a player entering the final year of his rookie deal, with a cap hit of just $3.71 million. Dallas area fans who also root for TCU get the added bonus of seeing a Horned Frog legend return home. Winters earned 2022 College Football Playoff Fiesta Bowl semifinal MVP honors after hauling in a pick-six off of then-Michigan Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy in an upset victory. 

San Francisco 49ers: B+

This deal was a win-win. The 49ers get a draft pick one round higher than they selected Winters during the 2023 NFL Draft. This move clears the path for San Francisco 2025 third-round pick Nick Martin to start in 2026. During his rookie year out of Oklahoma State, he played in seven games and recorded 11 tackles.