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Cowboys: Is Mario Williams Worth The Investment?

By Christian Blood

Nov 23, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; Buffalo Bills defensive end Mario Williams (94) looks on with red contact lenses from the bench during the first half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 23, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; Buffalo Bills defensive end Mario Williams (94) looks on with red contact lenses from the bench during the first half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Dallas Cowboys must improve a pass rush that generated just 31 sacks last season, and free-agent defensive end Mario Williams might be part of the solution.

The key date of March 9th is less than a week away, and then we’ll begin to see the first signs of transformation around the NFL. With ample salary cap room with which to make some visible moves, the Dallas Cowboys should be active once the new league year begins next week.

Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones is on record as stating that Cowboys won’t be breaking the bank for any football players from around the league and his reasoning is quite sound and absolutely correct.

Jones, in very colorful fashion, stated to a group of reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine last week exactly why he doesn’t prefer free agency where building a team is concerned.

"I’m not a big fan of free agency; I’ll be the first to admit it. Unfortunately, good players get paid like they’re great players, average players get paid like they’re good players and it’s a domino effect. It’s not a great way to put your team together."

No, in fact it isn’t .

Nonetheless, the Cowboys don’t have to use free agency to build a team – it’s not like anybody could afford to operate like the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks in the first place. In this case, Dallas will be looking for value in adding the few key pieces that it undoubtedly will once the financial bullets start firing.

Could defensive end Mario Williams be among the few targets for the Cowboys?

Let’s just say that the need for Williams’ services are absolutely there, even if the price tag makes the 10-year veteran prohibitive.

According to NFL.com, the Cowboys are one of a handful of teams that, in theory, should be interested in adding this pass-rush specialist who happens to have 96.0 sacks during his career.

Having been born just 11 days after the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX, Williams has probably seen his better playing days. In his 10 seasons with the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills, the team that just released him, Williams has been highly productive with only a few seasons that one would probably classify as disappointing – the most recent being last season.

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Williams had just 5.0 sacks last season, a mark that apparently compelled the Bills to move on. Williams also had 5.0 sacks in 2011, an apparent reason that the Texans opted to free themselves of the first-overall selection in the 2006 NFL Draft.

So, the question is whether or not Williams still has the talent and drive to chalk up numbers like he did in his first three seasons in Buffalo. He had 10.5 sacks in 2012, 13.0 in 2013 and a career-high 14.5 just two seasons ago.

Williams has had the tendency to be up and down during his career, and the Cowboys are in the market for the type of defensive end that can still turn in heavy production, something the former North Carolina State star has delivered before. Exactly how much money will it cost the Cowboys to acquire Williams and what does the expected return look like?

We can’t really say that Williams will be joining a star-studded defensive roster that just has a single hole to fill, much like Charles Haley did back in 1992 when joining a Dallas defense that was literally missing just a little more heat on opposing quarterbacks in order to contend for a championship. Defensive tackle Russel Maryland, for example, was the first-overall selection in the 1991 NFL Draft and was obviously already in place. Veterans Tony Tolbert and Tony Casillas were already wearing the blue star and young defensive tackles like Leon Lett and Chad Hennings were just arriving.

Just a year ago, the Cowboys thought they were in the same position – one  pass rusher away from the Super Bowl.

Well, injuries to quarterback Tony Romo and receiver Dez Bryant pretty much killed any hope of finding out if that was really true or not.

We do know that 2015 offseason additions like Greg Hardy and Randy Gregory did very little to improve a pass rush that was unable to support an offense that was effectively neutered via injuries.

Having said that, the Cowboys still have reason to investigate Williams. After all, Hardy won’t be back and Gregory is now suspended for the first quarter of next season. Third-year veteran DeMarcus Lawrence appears to be finding his stride in the NFL, but his back situation might be a bigger problem than some might think right now.

It all boils down to whether or not Williams can be acquired for the right price. A one or two-year rental might make some sense, but even then the Cowboys still have to be grabbing some young defensive talent for the front seven of a defense that just doesn’t have enough in the way of playmakers upfront.

Yes, offense wins games – but defense wins championships. The Denver Broncos didn’t just discover that fact in Super Bowl 50 last month. They, along with Cowboys all-time sack leader DeMarcus Ware, simply illustrated something that’s been known for decades and decades.

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Williams could certainly play a key role in a Dallas defense that could quickly be renovated for a push towards the Super Bowl. If not, the Cowboys still have many other options, both in the draft and in free agency, that could prove to be just as effective at drastically improving a Cowboys defense that just doesn’t scare anybody right now.

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