Dallas Cowboys: Why They Need to Part Ways With Roy Williams This Offseason

Is there anyone out there still trying to say that the Cowboys acquisition of Roy Williams was a good move?

Ok, anyone who is not a close personal friend or related to him?

That should eliminate the overwhelming majority of supporters at this point. 

All jokes aside, has there been a more frustrating player on the Dallas Cowboys in recent seasons than Roy E. Williams?

The Cowboys acquired the prototypical-sized receiver (6'3", 215 pounds) from the Detroit Lions via a trade on Oct. 14, 2008.

Williams had a Pro Bowl year during the 2006 season (82 catches, 1,310 yards, seven touchdowns) and performed admirably for an underachieving 7-9 Lions squad in 2007 (64 catches, 838 yard, five touchdowns). 

Rumors in Dallas circulated that Terrell Owens was on his way out at the end of the season, despite strong support from team owner Jerry Jones. 

Therefore, the organization wanted to find TO’s heir apparent sooner than later.

They decided to go out and get Williams in exchange for their first, third, and sixth round picks in the 2009 draft, and the ‘Boys also received a seventh- round pick from the Lions in the 2010 draft.

Williams was an afterthought in 10 games with America’s team in 2008, reeling in just 19 catches for 198 yards and a touchdown. 

Still, it was not hard to rationalize his lack of production.  He had a future hall of famer ahead of him on the depth chart, and did not really have much time to build rapport with new quarterback Tony Romo.

Certainly, he’d be way more productive next year, especially if TO leaves…right???

Not by a long shot.  TO did indeed leave Dallas and ended up having a disappointing year in Buffalo, but he still outperformed Roy Williams by miles and miles.

Speaking of miles, the Cowboys did find their franchise receiver in the unknown 25 year old Monmouth product, Miles Austin. 

Austin came out of nowhere to grab 82 catches for 1,320 yards and 11 touchdowns, earning him a well deserved Pro Bowl bid.

Getting back to Williams, although he missed one game, he was again a major disappointment overall in 2009.  He finished the year with 38 catches, 596 yards, although he did match his career high of 7 touchdowns. 

The team did a great job in 2009, winning 11 regular season games and winning their first playoff game in 14 years against their divisional rival the Philadelphia Eagles.

Nevertheless, a large portion of fans were clamoring for Williams to go: it was time to call the trade from over a year ago a failure and move on. 

It was little surprise when the Cowboys front office was too stubborn to let Williams go in the off season, as they would have to admit they made a big mistake. 

In 2010, Williams has nearly identical numbers to 2009 through 14 games (he missed one due to injury):  36 catches, 524 yards, five touchdowns, so a little worse than last year actually, but there is still one regular season game to be played in 2010.

Williams has helped LOSE, not win in two key games this year, against the Saints and Cardinals. 

While most people probably recall, he fumbled against the Saints as the Cowboys were about to put the game on ice with another score and on Christmas Day he dropped a pass that got intercepted for a touchdown.

The Cowboys lost these two games by a combined four points.  Now it would be unfair to say Williams single-handedly lost those games, but he was certainly a prime reason on both occasions why the 'Boys came up short in the end.

He has three fumbles this year, which is pretty sad with just 36 catches.  He also has just a 44-percent catch percentage, up very slightly from 43.2 percent in 2009.  This was actually the second worst catch percentage in the NFC. 

It is tough to find documentation of drops for players since it is not an official NFL stat, but this has been another huge problem for Williams throughout his time with the Cowboys. 

Fans and analysts alike have seen what Miles Austin and Dez Bryant can do when given some opportunities.  At the end of the day, Roy Williams is not any more, in fact very likely less, effective than both Sam Hurd and Kevin Ogletree. 

The proof is in the pudding: it’s time the Cowboys face the fact that Roy Williams is a bust and need to get him off their roster immediately when the off season begins.