[SIZE=+2]Safety Williams' days with Dallas Cowboys may be numbered
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]06:15 PM CST on Thursday, February 26, 2009
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Roy Williams has played his last game for the Cowboys.
It's the only conclusion we can draw since the Cowboys' front office has been calling around the league to determine the veteran safety's trade value.
And if Dallas doesn't find a trade partner – just so you know, teams don't trade for players destined to be released – then it's only a matter of when, not if, the Cowboys release the five-time Pro Bowl player.
When that happens, it should leave you feeling just a little empty because the former first-round pick from Oklahoma arrived with such expectations. For three seasons, he delivered.
He intercepted passes. He delivered bone-breaking hits. He sacked quarterbacks. He made receivers fear the middle of the field.
Who can forget him breaking Emmitt Smith's shoulder blade on the future Hall of Famer's return to Dallas? Or his knockout of Marshall Faulk, a collision that folks on the field said sounded like a 12-gauge shotgun blast?
At that time, Williams was a stud, a player we figured would end his career linked with Darren Woodson, Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters as the best safeties to ever wear a Cowboys' uniform.
But it never happened.
Now, the Cowboys need his cap room. They don't have to have it to make a splash in free agency, which began at 11 p.m. Thursday, but it will make their lives easier.
Cutting Williams, who is scheduled to earn $4.4 million and count $6.6 million against the salary cap, would save Dallas about $2.5 million. Two years remain on the five-year contract extension Williams received in 2006.
"I wanted to be known as the best safety to play in Dallas," Williams said Friday. "Forget the Pro Bowls. I wanted to win playoff games and play in Super Bowls. If I was to leave without doing that, I'd be unfulfilled, like I should have done more.
"I never envisioned playing for another team. I've never been fired or released from a job."
We can blame Williams. Or we can blame the scheme. Or we can blame the coaches and defensive coordinators who never figured out how to extract the most from his talent the past few seasons.
It doesn't really matter because the NFL is a bottom-line business. Did you get the job done? Yes or no.
Early in his career, the Cowboys consistently lined up Williams within six yards of the line of scrimmage and told him to hit anything that moved. So that's what he did.
The results were terrific.
The last few seasons, Williams has been more of a coverage safety, which doesn't play to his strengths.
The results were average at best.
Williams had a strong training camp last summer, but played in only three games because he broke his forearm twice and he served a one-game suspension for a horse-collar tackle.
"I really missed the game. I was upset, sad, hurt and confused," he said. "I wouldn't wish that on anybody. When you love the game and you have to be a cheerleader, it's hard."
Williams remains pragmatic about his future.
He wants to end his career in Dallas, where he has made himself a fixture in the community with his Safety Net Foundation that helps single mothers. And he doesn't want to leave the Inspiring Body of Christ Church, which has become an important part of his extended family.
He'd prefer to help the Cowboys end their embarrassing 12-season drought without a playoff win.
"People say Roy has gotten soft because he gave his life to Christ," Williams said. "Put me in the box roaming around and creating havoc instead of 10-12 yards off the line of scrimmage and I can still do those things.
"I have never doubted myself. I have never questioned what I can do."
It's apparent the Cowboys do.
