■Former Hoover High star Eric Kendricks signs with the Dallas Cowboys.

■A free agent, Kendricks had initially committed to the San Francisco 49ers.

■Kendricks has eclipsed 100 tackles each of the past eight seasons.

DALLAS — A change of heart from Eric Kendricks has helped the Dallas Cowboys fill one of their biggest needs in free agency.

The free-agent linebacker and former Hoover High School/UCLA standout has agreed to join the Cowboys after initially choosing the San Francisco 49ers, a person with knowledge of the deal said Wednesday night.

Kendricks will have a reunion with new Dallas defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, who was the 32-year-old’s head coach in Minnesota for his first seven years in the NFL.

Kendricks, 32, spent nine seasons with the Vikings before playing for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because contract details were being ironed out.

The Chargers released Kendricks on March 5 to free up $6.5 million in salary cap space.

Cowboys Needed Linebacker Help

Linebacker is among the biggest offseason needs for the Cowboys after Leighton Vander Esch was sidelined in 2023 by another neck injury, a possibly career-ending setback this time.

Kendricks has topped 100 tackles in each of the past eight seasons to tie for the fourth-longest streak of at least 100 tackles since 2000, according to Sportradar. His 1,036 tackles rank third in the NFL in that span, trailing only Bobby Wagner and Lavonte David.

The Cowboys struggled to stop the run in a third consecutive 12-win playoff season, and it was part of their undoing in another postseason flop.

Green Bay took a big lead in a 48-32 wild-card victory with their passing game and a big mistake from Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott, but the Packers’ run game helped fuel a second-half rout.

The Cowboys had similar problems against the run in playoff defeats to the 49ers each of the previous two seasons.

Zimmer was coaching the Vikings when they drafted Kendricks in the second round out of UCLA in 2015. He became a starter early in his rookie season and started 113 of 117 games in Minnesota.

More About Kendricks

The 6-foot, 232-pound Kendricks was a first-team All-American at UCLA and won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top collegiate linebacker in 2014.

A second-round NFL pick, he made the All-Rookie team in 2015 and was named first-team All-Pro in 2019 with the Vikings.

Kendricks had 117 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 3 1/2 sacks and six passes defensed last season for the Chargers.

Eric’s older brother Mychal also starred at Hoover High before going to Cal, where he was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2011. Mychal, a linebacker, was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round in 2012 and won a Super Bowl with them during the 2017 season.

Mychal last played in 2020 when he got into one game for Washington.

(GV Wire contributed to this article.)