Dallas Cowboys linebacker Damien Wilson in line for bigger role

The Dallas Cowboys have some intriguing depth at the linebacker position, and Damien Wilson could be in line for a big role in 2017…

Many who aren’t overly close to the Dallas Cowboys beat like myself have spent much of the offseason rooting for a full recovery from Jaylon Smith, a former Notre Dame linebacker who is coming back from a gruesome injury suffered in his final collegiate game. We’ll continue rooting for him to get back to his elite form, but for the time being, Damien Wilson is making some serious strides in his third season with the team.

Wilson ranked fifth on the Cowboys in 2015 as a rookie with 280 special teams snaps, and bumped his way up to second behind only Jeff Heath this past season with a whopping 340 special teams snaps.

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Combine that with an increased role in the defense (283 snaps at LB, just under 27 percent of all snaps), and we could be looking at another emerging player on a defense that is seemingly full of guys that just pop up almost out of nowhere.

We’re getting on this one early so Cowboys fans can’t say they tried to tell us so…

Wilson played 100 snaps in the team’s regular season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles, and finally got his chance to show what he could do with more responsibility.

He racked up six tackles in the process, but more importantly, gained the trust of his coaches in Dallas and is now in line to start on opening day at strong-side linebacker.

In that article on the Cowboys’ official site, their linebackers coach talked about the burden of responsibility for someone like Wilson, who is being asked to do quite a bit.

"“He’s doing a good job. You’re asked to do a lot of things in there at that position – you’re asked to cover, you’re asked to rush, you’re asked to play zone. You’re asked to do all the things that a linebacker would do.“We as coaches thought that he had one of the better springs (in 2016). He was really coming along, he was playing the Will, he was playing the Sam – and he was doing a really good job. We thought he was really going to take off. And then he had that incident, you know, he had an injury and wasn’t able to work in training camp. So it kind of set him back a little bit.”Matt Eberflus, Cowboys LBs coach"

With no setbacks this offseason, Wilson could find himself one of the most heavily utilized Cowboys in 2017. He is still maintaining his special teams responsibilities, and working extensively with defense in the base, nickel, and dime sets.

He could quickly earn a reputation as one of the most versatile linebackers in the NFL.