Football: Dee Winters Works at TCU's Pro Day in Front of All 32 NFL Teams
In his entire four-year career playing in Fort Worth, Dee Winters never played a better game than the game played against Michigan in the national semifinals which, at the time, was bigger and more important than any of the other 33 games he had played for the Horned Frogs. The stage could not have been brighter, and Winters could not have been more brilliant. He finished the game with seven tackles, three of them for loss, and a Pick Six that gave the Frogs a two-score lead late in the third quarter.
Since his team’s loss to Georgia in the national championship, Winters has remained busy. In the months since the game, he declared for the NFL Draft and immediately began his training for the NFL Combine. The 5’11" linebacker had his focus set on the 40-yard dash.
“For the Combine, I was really just focused on my 40,” Winters said. “I just wanted to hit the 4.4 range and show the coaches that I could run, and I did just that.”
I am almost certain that NFL coaches knew that he could run based on his blazing speed on display against Michigan, but a strong 40-time can boost a player’s draft stock, unlike any other Combine event, especially for a player like Winters, whose projection resides somewhere on Day Three. He ran an official time of 4.49 at the Combine, which was tied for the fourth fastest time by any linebacker.
After his successful showcase in Indianapolis, teams began regularly meeting with Winters. He said he has had too many meetings to count but that the Jets are a team that has stuck out to him.
“I think my first meeting went really well with the Jets,” Winters said. “I think coach [Rutenberg]’s character and personality is just something that I lean towards and his coaching style was something that I was impressed with for sure.”
Jets’ linebacker coach Mike Rutenberg has been around the NFL for years and has most recently coached players like CJ Mosley and Quincy Williams in New York.
The final step before the draft for the TCU great was Pro Day. He participated in the broad jump where he recorded a 9’8 jump. He also recorded a 31.5 vertical jump but didn't participate in any more drills. He did work through some defensive drills with Trevius Hodges-Tomlinson in front of representatives from all 32 NFL teams. He spoke with Dallas Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel at TCU’s Pro Day.
Starting off in a special teams role and working his way up seems like the likely path for the start of his professional career. The fact that he has worked himself into the position at all is pretty impressive in itself. The three-star prospect out of Burton, TX was recruited as a safety but was immediately moved to linebacker by then-head coach Gary Patterson, which is why he may seem small for a typical NFL linebacker. He is a unique prospect due to his size, but his football instincts are unquestionable.
Between now and the draft, April 27-28, Winters will be focusing on the football side of things like the Xs and Os and positional understanding. He has a chance to be TCU’s fourth linebacker taken in the NFL Draft since 2019.
His impact and commitment to TCU over the last four seasons have been huge and rare, especially in the new transfer portal era of college football. Winters did not leave when a change was made at head coach, and that proved to be an extremely important decision, both for him and for the Horned Frogs; it is likely that neither party would have played in a national championship if they had not stuck together.
“TCU means a lot to me,” Winters said. “[TCU] was my dream school growing up and just to be a part of this organization means a lot to me. I just wanted to do everything right and show everyone that it’s possible.”
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