{"id":49549,"date":"2025-05-19T09:48:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T09:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549"},"modified":"2025-05-19T09:48:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T09:48:40","slug":"cowboys-predicted-to-cut-ties-with-3-million-2nd-round-pick-signed-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys Predicted to Cut Ties With $3 Million 2nd Round Pick Signed in March"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Brian Schottenheimer\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"490\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1050\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer faces tough choices in the running back room.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>On their way to a mediocre, 7-10 season in which\u00a0they missed the playoffs\u00a0for the first time in four years, the Dallas Cowboys had plenty of blame to go around. Much of it could be directed at the running game.<\/p>\n<p>With\u00a0just 1,705 yards on the ground, the Cowboys placed a sorry 27th of the NFL\u2019s 32 teams in rushing yardage. Dallas ball-carriers were almost totally ineffective when it came to putting points on the board, scoring a mere six touchdowns \u2014 dead last in the league. One of those touchdowns came from quarterback Dak Prescott.<\/p>\n<p>Three more of the six were scored by veteran Ezekiel Elliot, who is no longer with the team. Elliot joined the Los Angeles Chargers\u2019\u00a0practice squad in January.<\/p>\n<p>Rico Dowdle scored the other two \u2014 and Dowdle is gone, too. He\u00a0signed as a free agent\u00a0with the Carolina Panthers in March.<\/p>\n<h2>No Dallas Running Back Scored TD For Cowboys Last Year<\/h2>\n<p>As one of their acquisitions to make up for the fact that not one member of the Dallas running back group scored a rushing touchdown for the Cowboys last year, the team signed the Denver Broncos leading rusher from 2024 to\u00a0a $3 million free agent contract\u00a0in March.<\/p>\n<p>Now, just two months later, 25-year-old Javonte Williams \u2014\u00a0Denver\u2019s second-round draft pick, 35th overall out of North Carolina, in 2021 \u2014 may find his roster spot in danger.<\/p>\n<p>While Williams led Denver in rushing yards last year,\u00a0it took only 513 yards\u00a0to do so \u2014\u00a0a career low for any season\u00a0in which Williams played more than four games. Perhaps as a result Williams\u2019 $3 million deal with the Cowboys\u00a0represented a $5.9 million pay cut\u00a0from his last paycheck in Denver.<\/p>\n<p>In a\u00a0roundup of the \u201cbest and worst\u201d\u00a0free agent signings in March, NFL analyst Alex Kay of\u00a0<em>Bleacher Report<\/em> named the Cowboys\u2019 signing of Williams as one of the worst.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs if losing Rico Dowdle wasn\u2019t a big enough blow to the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 backfield, their decision to sign Javonte Williams as a replacement only salts the wound,\u201d Kay wrote. \u201cConsidering Williams has nearly double the career touches of Dowdle (764 vs. 387) and a concerning injury history (a Year 2 ACL tear derailed what had been a promising start to his career), this signing simply doesn\u2019t make sense. Although the financial commitment isn\u2019t much, Williams isn\u2019t the answer to Dallas\u2019 backfield woes.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Williams May be Odd Man Out in Running Back Room<\/h2>\n<p>Then, on Sunday, another\u00a0<em>Bleacher Report<\/em>\u00a0scribe,\u00a0Kristopher Knox, predicted that Williams\u00a0will ultimately lose his job in Dallas, after losing the training camp competition with the other four running backs now on the Dallas roster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCowboys signed running back Javonte Williams to a one-year, $3 million deal this offseason but could easily move on if he doesn\u2019t outperform Miles Sanders, Deuce Vaughn and\/or rookies Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah in training camp,\u201d Knows wrote. \u201cCutting Williams, who averaged just 3.7 yards per carry with the Broncos last season, would save Dallas $2 million in cap space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not every NFL expert, however, sees Williams as the most likely cut candidate in the Dallas running back room. According to Mark Heaney of\u00a0the Cowboys blog\u00a0<em>Inside the Star<\/em>, the 28-year-old Sanders \u2014 a Philadelphia Eagles second-round pick in 2019 \u2014 is the ball carrier most likely to say an early goodbye to the Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSanders is on the other side of his 20s, and he just doesn\u2019t have the juice he once did. He tallied 220 rushes in his final season at Penn State, and he is nearly at the 1,000 mark for his career in the NFL. That is a ton of tread on his tires,\u201d Heaney wrote. \u201cWhen you combine that with a pair of hamstring and knee sprains over the last five years, you have a running back who, for all his experience and leadership, cannot produce on the field like you need him to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer faces tough choices in the running back room. On their way to a mediocre, 7-10 season in which\u00a0they missed the playoffs\u00a0for the&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cowboys Predicted to Cut Ties With $3 Million 2nd Round Pick Signed in March - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cowboys Predicted to Cut Ties With $3 Million 2nd Round Pick Signed in March - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer faces tough choices in the running back room. On their way to a mediocre, 7-10 season in which\u00a0they missed the playoffs\u00a0for the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-19T09:48:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549\",\"name\":\"Cowboys Predicted to Cut Ties With $3 Million 2nd Round Pick Signed in March - 24\/7 News America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-19T09:48:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-19T09:48:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cowboys Predicted to Cut Ties With $3 Million 2nd Round Pick Signed in March\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"24\/7 News America\",\"description\":\"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cowboys Predicted to Cut Ties With $3 Million 2nd Round Pick Signed in March - 24\/7 News America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cowboys Predicted to Cut Ties With $3 Million 2nd Round Pick Signed in March - 24\/7 News America","og_description":"Getty Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer faces tough choices in the running back room. On their way to a mediocre, 7-10 season in which\u00a0they missed the playoffs\u00a0for the...","og_url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549","og_site_name":"24\/7 News America","article_published_time":"2025-05-19T09:48:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549","name":"Cowboys Predicted to Cut Ties With $3 Million 2nd Round Pick Signed in March - 24\/7 News America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780","datePublished":"2025-05-19T09:48:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-19T09:48:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780","contentUrl":"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dallas-Cowboys-cut-ties-Javonte-Williams.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=49549#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cowboys Predicted to Cut Ties With $3 Million 2nd Round Pick Signed in March"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/","name":"24\/7 News America","description":"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49550,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49549\/revisions\/49550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}