Perrion Winfrey ( ; born August 15, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Iowa Western and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, and was selected by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

in the fourth round of the

2022 NFL draft The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual NFL draft, draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round ...

Early life

Winfrey grew up in

Maywood, Illinois Maywood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded on April 6, 1869, and organized October 22, 1881. The population was 23,512 at the 2020 census. History There was limited European-Am ...

, and attended

Lake Park High School Lake Park High School is a four-year public high school occupying two campuses, both located in Roselle, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. Freshmen and sophomores attend the East Campus (the original campus built in 1956), located near M ...

Roselle, Illinois Roselle is a suburb of Chicago and is a village located in both DuPage County and Cook in Illinois. Roselle was first incorporated in 1922 as a bedroom community, with its train stop attracting residents commuting to Chicago or nearby suburbs fo ...

. Winfrey was rated a three-star prospect, but was not heavily recruited after failing to qualify academically to play

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

football.

College career

Winfrey began his collegiate career at

Iowa Western Community College Iowa Western Community College is a public community college in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It was founded in 1966 and offers 84 programs in both vocational and technical areas as well as in liberal arts. It is also home to a flight school. Campus A ...

at the recommendation of coaches at Iowa State. Over two seasons he recorded 55 tackles with 23 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. Winfrey was rated the best junior college prospect in the nation by

247Sports.com 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite bei ...

and committed to transfer to

over offers from

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, Baylor,

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. In his first year at Oklahoma, Winfrey played in all 11 of the Sooners' games and became a starter at defensive tackle. He was named second-team All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

by the league's coaches after recording 19 tackles, six for loss, and three pass breakups. After the season Winfrey considered entering the

2021 NFL draft The 2021 NFL draft was the 86th National Football League draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29 to May ...

, but opted to return to Oklahoma for his senior season.

Professional career

Cleveland Browns

Winfrey was selected by the

with the 108th overall pick in the fourth round of the

. Winfrey appeared in 13 games as a rookie. He had .5 sacks, 22 total tackles, and two passes defensed. On July 19, 2023, Winfrey was waived by the Browns, after being investigated for threatening and pulling a gun on a woman in Cleveland.

New York Jets

On November 7, 2023, Winfrey was signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

of the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

. He was not signed to a reserve/future contract after the season and thus became a free agent upon the expiration of his practice squad contract.

Birmingham Stallions

On October 3, 2024, Winfrey was signed by the

Birmingham Stallions The Birmingham Stallions were a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second professional league of American football in the United States in competition with the National Football League. They played their ...

of the United Football League (UFL). He was named to the All-UFL Team in 2025.

Dallas Cowboys

Winfrey signed with the

on June 18, 2025.

Legal issues

On April 10, 2023, Winfrey was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge in

Harris County, Texas Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, and was estimated to be 5,009,302 in 2024, making it the List of counties in Texas, most populous cou ...

. On July 19, 2023, Fox 8 Cleveland announced that Winfrey was under investigation by Cleveland police for allegedly pulling a gun on a woman and threatening her in Cleveland.

References

External links

Oklahoma Sooners bio

Iowa Western Reivers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winfrey, Perrion 2000 births Living people Sportspeople from Maywood, Illinois Players of American football from Cook County, Illinois American football defensive tackles Oklahoma Sooners football players Iowa Western Reivers football players Cleveland Browns players New York Jets players Birmingham Stallions (2022) players Dallas Cowboys players