All general managers are going to have their draft hits and misses, especially when it comes to Day three picks. Although Andrew Berry has made his fair share of draft mistakes, he's done a pretty solid job getting players who at least be rotational players in rounds four to seven. He's found at least one day three contributor in each of his five draft classes before 2025, including guys like Isaiah McGuire, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and Jerome Ford among others.
For every time you can find a success story at this stage in the draft, you can find one or more failed picks who might have hardly seen the field. One of those recent examples is Perrion Winfrey, who had all the fans on his side after barking on draft night. Unfortunately, Winfrey was released after one year, but he finds himself back in the NFL after signing with Dallas recently, per James Larsen.
Perrion Winfrey signs with Cowboys
Winfrey spent the 2025 season with the Birmingham Stallions of the UFL and made All-UFL honors after starting six of ten games and recording two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Prior to that, he spent 2023 with the Jets' practice squad after getting cut by the Browns coming out of training camp, but he was only elevated for one game before becoming an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Back in 2022, the Browns made Winfrey the 108th overall pick in the fourth round of the draft out of Oklahoma. To say Cleveland's defensive tackle room that year was uninspiring would be an understatement, as the unit led by Taven Bryan and Jordan Elliott ranked bottom 10 in run defense. There was plenty of hope for Winfrey to break through and earn playing time in an underwhelming room, which made his failures all the more noticeable.
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In his lone year in Cleveland, Winfrey managed to play in 13 games and registered 342 snaps, good for 97th among 221 defensive tackles. In those snaps, PFF gave him a 41.6 grade, ranking 187th in the league as he ended with just one tackle for loss and a half sack. While his performance wasn't anything to write home about, the investigation surrounding him during camp certainly played a role in his release.
Winfrey made the most of his year away from the NFL and put together a solid performance in the UFL. Hopefully, some time away can help get him in the right spot mentally and Winfrey can show off the talent that got him selected near the top 100 back in 2022.