The Dallas Cowboys have taken care of their in-house players, such as George Pickens (kind of), Brandon Aubrey and Javonte Williams. All players will be playing the Cowboys in 2025, but it's looking more and more like Williams was the steal signing of the offseason.
Williams was playing on a one-year, $3 million contract for 2025. It was more of a "prove-it" deal for Williams, as he had an off year in his last season with Denver. Williams spent four seasons with the Broncos, and while his rookie season looked promising, he never lived up to the hype with the Orange Crush.
Tom Blair from NFL.com wrote a piece about the underappreciated players for every NFL team. It's safe to say without a doubt that Williams made the list for America's Team. He's undervalued, but in a way Cowboys fans never knew about.
"That wasn't even just the best season of (Williams') career -- it was one of the best running back seasons by any Cowboy this century. Since 2000, three Dallas players have logged at least one season with 1,100-plus rushing yards and 10-plus rushing TDs: DeMarco Murray (2014), Ezekiel Elliott (2016 and '19) and Williams."
Javonte Williams is the steal that the Cowboys never knew about
If you're next to DeMarco Murray and Ezekiel Elliott, then that's about the best company you can be involved in.
In 2014, it looked like a magical year for the Cowboys up until a certain controversy involving Dez Bryant. Murray rushed for 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns. A lot has to do with the Cowboys' offensive line, Zack Martin was a rookie stud right guard, next to All-Pro center Travis Frederick and All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith.
In 2016, Elliott was a rookie and blew everybody away. It helped the Cowboys had pretty much the same star offensive line as in 2014, but Elliott was an every-down back who got guaranteed yardage almost every time.
Williams had a heck of a season, but it was also completely unexpected. Not only did he answer the "prove-it" contract, but he's now in Cowboys lore with Murray and Elliott. Something like that doesn't happen overnight to running backs, but it did with Williams.
The five-year man out of North Carolina was rewarded with a three-year, $24 million contract, with $16 million guaranteed. At one point, fans were looking at other RBs in free agency, but looking back, it was a pretty easy decision for Jones to make to re-sign Williams.
Cowboys fans should be happy to have Williams in for the long haul. Blair's analysis should be a wake-up call to the NFL that he's one of the more underrated RBs in the league.
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