Tag: Dee Winters

Know Your Foe: Five TCU Horned Frogs to know for regular season finale

Oklahoma takes on TCU in their final Big 12 home game to end their regular season. Here are five TCU players to know as the Sooners prepare.

Friday will be an emotional day of celebration. The Oklahoma Sooners (9-2, 6-2 Big 12) will host their Senior Day. This will be the last time the Sooners host a Big 12 game on Owen Field.

The crimson and cream have made it through another Big 12 slate. The chances of earning a trip to Arlington for the Big 12 Championship are slim but not quite zero. The Sooners will need help from other Big 12 members to make that happen.

All Oklahoma can do is worry about finishing their final Big 12 slate with a win at home.

Their opponents were the first Big 12 team not named Oklahoma to make it to the College Football Playoff. Sonny Dykes orchestrated a masterful coaching job to get TCU (5-6, 3-5) to the national championship last year. Things didn’t go so hot in their game against Georgia, but his work speaks for itself.

The Horned Frogs lost a significant amount of production from that team, and this season has hardly been as fruitful. This team can still hang with many teams and is hungry for bowl eligibility. They are one win shy of playing in a bowl game and would love nothing more than to spoil Oklahoma’s festivities and get that sixth victory.

There is no Max Duggan, Quentin Johnston, Kendre Miller, Dee Winters, Steve Avila, or Derius Davis for this year’s TCU Horned Frogs. That group of players was the backbone of last year’s team and a big reason Oklahoma lost 55-24 in Fort Worth last year.

With so many faces gone and off to the NFL, who are the players to know for Sonny Dykes’ team? We break down five TCU Horned Frogs to know ahead for Oklahoma’s regular-season finale.

Worst of the Week for Week 10: Patriots and Giants bottom out, more bad officiating, Frank Reich

Frank Reich, the Patriots and Giants find the bottom, more horrid officiating, and one weird fumble return. It’s time for the NFL’s Worst of the Week!

Football is a wonderful, thrilling, inspiring game that can lift us to new heights in our lives.

But football is also a weird, inexplicable, at times downright stupid game that may force you to perform Keith Moon-level furniture destruction in your own living room.

So, as much as we at Touchdown Wire endeavor to write about what makes the game great, there are also times when it’s important to point out the dumb plays, boneheaded decisions, and officiating errors that make football all too human.

Folks, it’s time for the Worst of the Week for Week 10 of the 2023 NFL season.

49ers 2023 rookie report card is mostly useless at halfway point

The #49ers rookie report card is … bare.

The 49ers didn’t pick until late in the third round of the 2023 draft. It didn’t seem like a big deal considering they still walked away with a nine-player class that had a chance to fill a couple of key needs.

There was never a realistic possibility the 49ers’ rookie class had a wide swath of contributors. However, the early returns from that group can’t even be labeled as “not promising” because the reality is a vast majority of the players haven’t had any chance to make a real contribution.

We went through the rookie class and dished out “grades” for their first half performances. It won’t take long to notice a pattern:

WATCH: 49ers LB Dee Winters scores 8 TDs in high school game

49ers LB Dee Winters once scored EIGHT (8) touchdowns in a high school game:

The 49ers selected linebacker Dee Winters out of TCU with their lone sixth-round pick in this year’s draft. While defense was Winters’ ticket to the NFL, he didn’t always dominate just that side of the ball. In high school before landing with the Horned Frogs, Winters in a Texas state quarterfinal game racked up EIGHT (!!!) touchdowns.

Winters, known then by his full name, De’Monderick, was a running back for Burton High School in his junior season. In a back-and-forth affair vs. Falls City, a little bit of luck was all Winters and Burton needed to get rolling. After a turnover on a kickoff in the third quarter, Winters went 48 yards for a TD. He later put the game away with three fourth-quarter TDs.

Here are some highlights of the future 49ers LB in that game, via Mr. Bowtie’s Texas High School Sports Machine:

It’s clear Winters is a terrific athlete, and he’ll need to rely on that athleticism to carve out a role with the 49ers where they do have a starting LB job up for grabs.

Winters never played any offense in college, but he did see action on defense in all four of his seasons with TCU. He was a three-year starter and started 36 of the 48 games he played, racking up 246 tackles, 33.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks.

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State of the Roster: Starting job wide open for 49ers at LB

State of the 49ers Roster: There’s a starting LB job up for grabs.

With 49ers OTAs in full swing, we’re taking a position-by-position look at the team’s roster to figure out the strengths, weaknesses, potential dark horses to make the team and other nuggets about the players who will be competing for jobs on the 53-man roster.

The 49ers won’t have a ton of turnover on their defense this year, but linebacker could be a possible exception. San Francisco saw Azeez Al-Shaair leave to join the Titans in free agency, leaving a vacancy at the starting Sam linebacker spot.

While the 49ers have to iron out who starts in Al-Shaair’s stead, they’ll also be aiming to iron out the rest of their depth chart behind that starter. Not only will they have a new starter, but they may have a couple of new faces among the reserves as well.

How the linebacking corps shakes out is a huge question mark since it appears every player on the 90-man roster has a real shot to make the club.

Let’s look at the LB group on the offseason roster:

LB Dee Winters could offer short and long-term fixes for 49ers

Dee Winters checks a lotta boxes for the 49ers to offer both short and long-term solutions at LB.

The 49ers used their lone sixth-round pick on TCU linebacker Dee Winters. He could offer immediate and long-term solutions for a couple of problems San Francisco could soon face at linebacker.

Winters should compete right away for the starting Sam linebacker job, which was vacated when Azeez Al-Shaair who left for Tennessee in free agency. He’ll have to battle with veterans Oren Burks and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, but general manager John Lynch invoked Dre Greenlaw’s name when discussing what they saw in Winters.

Greenlaw began his career as a fifth-round pick who began at SLB. He eventually moved over to Will LB to stay on the field for all three downs.

Winters could certainly compete for the SLB job as a rookie, but it’s not out of the question that he could move to WLB eventually. Greenlaw has two years left on his contract, at which point he may get priced out of what the 49ers can afford.

The WLB spot alongside Fred Warner has been a huge key for the 49ers’ defense and the defense has improved as Greenlaw has improved. Finding his potential replacement should be a priority for San Francisco, and Winters has the athleticism and coverage skills to develop into that player down the line.

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WATCH: Dee Winters’ best highlights from TCU

Winters’ highlight reel from TCU was all the #49ers needed to see to justify his selection in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL draft

Linebacker Dee Winters was a major part of TCU’s path to the 2023 college football national championship game and should be able to fight for a spot on the San Francisco 49ers’ roster next season. The rangy linebacker has a great football IQ and can make opposing ball carriers pay when they enter his area on the field.

Though he’ll need time to adjust to the professional game as a sixth-round selection, Winters brings an exceptional highlight reel with him to the league after an outstanding career as a collegian. Check out his best plays below to get acquainted with his skillset ahead of the 2023 season:

 

49ers select TCU LB Dee Winters with No. 216 pick

The #49ers selected TCU linebacker Dee Winters with their 216th overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft on Saturday

The San Francisco 49ers made a bold move with the 216th pick in the 2023 NFL draft, selecting Texas Christian University linebacker Dee Winters in the sixth round. Winters proved himself to be an impactful starter for the Horned Frogs in the team’s meteoric rise in the college football rankings last season and should be able to work himself into a roster spot in 2023.

Winters stands just under six feet tall and has enough speed to compensate for his lack of height. He is a rangy, rugged linebacker with the ability to wrap up even the most elusive ball carriers in space, especially in key situations.

Scouts value the experience that players like Winters bring to the table, especially at this stage in the draft process. He will likely need time to adjust to the speed of the NFL game, but as a late-round pick, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Watch for this established stud to make waves in training camp and quickly become a fan-favorite in the bay area.

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Dolphins nab two offensive, two defensive players in seven-round mock draft

He has them attack two of their biggest needs first.

In just days, the Miami Dolphins will enter the league’s 2023 draft with the goal of improving their roster for not only this year but for the years beyond as well.

General manager Chris Grier only has four selections at this point for the second straight year, meaning he’ll have to be really confident in his selections if he wants to make the biggest impact.

NFL.com’s Chad Reuter recently published a seven-round mock draft where the Dolphins selected two offensive and two defensive players to address some of their needs.

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Here’s who Reuter predicts Miami could select:

Chargers 2023 NFL draft preview: Where does Los Angeles stand at linebacker?

Our Chargers’ NFL draft preview series continues with the linebacker position.

After taking a steady approach in free agency, signing just one external player in linebacker Eric Kendricks and re-signing a handful of their own, the Chargers now have their sights set on the draft where they will look to bolster their roster with their selections and make a deeper run in 2023.

Before, we’re going position by position to break down where Los Angeles stands entering the draft.

Next up is the linebacker group.

Catch the previous previews here:

Quarterback

Running back

Wide receiver

Tight end

Offensive line

Edge defender

Interior defensive line