Colts 2023 Draft Interviews: Dee Winters, LB, TCU

Dee Winters is a former three star recruit that chose to attend TCU over Arizona State and Arkansas. He had an interesting path to playing time at TCU, as he was mostly known for being a high-level wide receiver recruit in high school.

Upon enrolling at TCU, the coaching staff immediately switched him over linebacker. I asked him about that transition to the other side of the ball:

It was definitely frustrating early on. I grew up thinking I was a certain position my whole life, and I get somewhere and the coaches thought otherwise. It was frustrating during that first year, but after that, I just had to trust the process and do what was best for me.

I worked through it as a freshman to help my team out and everything was smooth from there. I'm happy that I made that transition at the end of the day.

The move certainly paid dividends for Winters, as he had an outstanding career with the Horned Frogs. I was still curious about how the conversation came about between him and the coaching staff during his first year, though.

I asked him about how the topic of the position change even started that first year:

TCU was well known for transitioning offensive guys to defense and they were pretty low on their linebacker depth. They wanted to try me out of there and the rest was history after that.

As I said above, the move did wonders for Winters' career. He would go on to appear in 45 games for the Horned Frogs and become a mainstay on a talented defense. He totaled 246 tackles, 33.5 tackles for a loss, 12.5 sacks, seven pass deflections, and three interceptions in his career.

For Winters, he saved his best collegiate performance for the biggest stage. TCU defied all odds this year and made it into the College Football Playoff. They faced off against Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl, where the Horned Frogs pulled off the big upset to advance to the National Championship.

Winters was named the Fiesta Bowl MVP, as he totaled seven tackles, three tackles for a loss, and an interception (that he returned for a score). I asked him what it was like having that big of a game on the biggest stage:

It was something that I think that I needed for my career. It was something that I've been wanting to do for a long time and I think that Coach (Joe) Gillespie did a great job of putting me in certain situations to go make plays. I really appreciated him putting me in that spot to make plays in such a big game for TCU history.

SECOND PICK SIX OF THE NIGHT! DEE WINTERS!! 🔥

📺 @ESPNCFB #Big12FB x @TCUFootball pic.twitter.com/SpMAriipkI
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) December 31, 2022

Senior Bowl Performance

Winters carried his strong performance late in the season over to the Senior Bowl in early February. He had a dominant week of practice, being named the best practice linebacker of the week by Jim Nagy.

I asked him about his overall experience in Mobile:

It was something that I really appreciated. I was able to compete against the best of the best. Being nominated as linebacker of the week is something that I'm not taking for granted, but also, I know that it's something that shows I need to continue what I am doing with my work. I appreciate Jim Nagy for allowing me to show out against the best of the best.

These American team LBs are showing out today.

Here’s @TCUFootball Dee Winters with the interception during 7 on 7s. Forced a fumble on the very next play as well. @dwintersdos #SeniorBowl #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/485HQrhLNv
— Steph Sanchez (@Steph49K) February 1, 2023

Used as a Blitzer

TCU decided to make great use of Winters' athletic ability in 2022, as he became a major part of their pressure packages. He racked up 7.5 sacks on the season, which was easily his career best mark in college.

I asked him about this usage in 2022 as a blitzer:

Yeah, Coach (Joe) Gillespie noticed that my speed was one of the best attributes to my game. So he wanted to put in a package for me where I'm spying the quarterback or blitzing the quarterback like you said. He just put me in the best position possible to go make plays, and this was just one way that he did that.

Fit in the Modern NFL

Winters is a bit undersized, traditionally, for a linebacker in the NFL. Standing at just 6'1" 230 pounds, he likely would have been moved to safety 15-20 years ago. The NFL is changing to lighter, and faster, linebackers nowadays.

I asked him about his fit in the current landscape of the league:

I think in today's NFL you want a short/stocky linebacker that can plug the A gap and also cover any receiver that is put in front of them. I feel like I'm the typical linebacker that we are seeing in the league nowadays.

Winters also gets after it in the run game, and his explosion when he keys the run is something else. I asked him about the physical edge that he brings as a linebacker:

I was always raised to know that football is a physical sport. So even when I was on offense, I was playing physical. So the transition to defense was actually fitting for my play style. Once I got down wrapping up and driving through the legs, I feel like I had a pretty good grasp of the position.

Dee Winters big TFL https://t.co/UlTbMBpZb5
— Alex 👋 (@Dubs408) December 31, 2022

NFL Draft Outlook

I finished off the interview with the same way I finish all of them. I asked Winters how he would sell himself to a team this offseason. I asked him what my team would be getting, on and off the field, if they draft him:

You are going to get a guy that is going to do his job. A guy that is going to be disciplined. A guy that is going to be very determined and detailed in what he does. A guy that is going to have integrity and always do the right thing both on and off of the field.

Dee Winters, to me, is the spitting image of Zaire Franklin from the 2018 NFL Draft class. We saw how good of a linebacker that Franklin has become in the NFL, and I believe that Winters can follow a very familiar career path.

We also know Chris Ballard loves him some linebackers, so it wouldn't shock me in the slightest to see him in a Colts' uniform in 2023.

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