{"id":53952,"date":"2025-06-06T09:20:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T09:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=53952"},"modified":"2025-06-06T09:20:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T09:20:05","slug":"plausible-chance-cowboys-part-ways-with-3-million-free-agent-rb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=53952","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Plausible\u2019 Chance Cowboys Part Ways With $3 Million Free Agent RB"},"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\/06\/GettyImages-1430228679-e1749163989486.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1430228679-e1749163989486.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1430228679-e1749163989486.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1430228679-e1749163989486.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Javonte Williams\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" data-img-load-time=\"694\" data-dom-ready-time=\"821\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Denver Broncos running back Javonte Williams.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In terms of swapping out one player for another, it can be hard to make sense of one move the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0made in free agency.<\/p>\n<p>Dallas watched their 1,000-yard running back go out the door in\u00a0Rico Dowdle, who signed a 1-year, $2.75 million contract with the\u00a0Carolina Panthers\u00a0on March 12. In Dowdle\u2019s place, they brought in\u00a0Denver Broncos running back\u00a0Javonte Williams\u00a0on a 1-year, $3 million contract after he led the Broncos with 513 rushing yards in 2024 but averaged just 3.7 yards per carry.<\/p>\n<p>Signing Williams could eventually cost the Cowboys a\u00a0compensatory draft pick, and\u00a0according to ESPN\u2019s Bill Barnwell, there\u2019s an outside chance Williams might not even make the Cowboys\u2019 53-man roster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy replace Dowdle with a back who has averaged 3.7 yards per carry and posted the league\u2019s fifth-worst success rate\u00a0since returning from a multiligament knee injury in 2023?\u201d Barnwell wrote on June 3. \u201cOnly $1 million of Williams\u2019 $3 million is guaranteed, so there\u2019s a slim-but-plausible chance he doesn\u2019t even make the active roster in Week 1. I would say it\u2019s likely Williams gets there, but that we see him strictly in a rotational role. He\u2019s not likely to reach Dowdle\u2019s heights in workload or production.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Want to be even more confused? The Cowboys drafted 2 running back in 2025, taking\u00a0Jaydon Blue\u00a0in the fifth round (No. 149 overall) and\u00a0Phil Mafah in the seventh round (No. 239 overall).<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<h2>Williams Seemed to Regress in 2024<\/h2>\n<p>The confusing thing about Williams and his recovery from a devastating knee injury suffered in Week 4 of the 2022 season was that it seemed like he regained his form when he returned in 2023 only to see a\u00a0major regression in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The Broncos drafted Williams in the second round (No. 35 overall) in the 2022 NFL draft and he had a stellar rookie season with career highs in total offense (1,209 yards), rushing yards (903) and touchdowns (7).<\/p>\n<p>After missing 13 games in 2022 with his knee injury, he returned in 2023 and played in 16 games while eclipsing\u00a01,000 yards of total offense again.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, with an improved offensive line and, finally, a reliable quarterback in\u00a0Bo Nix, Williams took a step back and had just 859 yards of total offense and 4 touchdowns \u2014 both career lows for a complete season.<\/p>\n<h2>Benching Williams Seemed Best Option for Denver<\/h2>\n<p>Things got so bad in 2024 that at one point it seemed like the Broncos\u2019 best move was to bench Williams and\u00a0cede his carries\u00a0to rookie\u00a0Audric Estime\u00a0and\u00a0Jaleel McLaughlin\u00a0to try and get the running game going.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo me, I think (running the ball) is where the Broncos have to kind of just bite it and say, \u2018hey, we\u2019e been trying this all season long,\u2019 \u201d Broncos reporter Cody Roarke said on the\u00a0\u201cLocked on Broncos\u201d podcast on December 11. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t worked. If we\u2019re going to make the postseason, we need to find a way to get the run game going. And we need to get (Estime), who we keep saying we want to get more touche, to get him the ball and see it through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Williams\u2019 struggles also cost him big money in free agency. Headed into 2024, Spotrac projected he would receive something in the range of a\u00a03-year, $20.7 million contract in free agency \u2014 a far cry from the deal he actually received.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Denver Broncos running back Javonte Williams. In terms of swapping out one player for another, it can be hard to make sense of one move the\u00a0Dallas&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Plausible\u2019 Chance Cowboys Part Ways With $3 Million Free Agent RB - 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=53952\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Plausible\u2019 Chance Cowboys Part Ways With $3 Million Free Agent RB - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Denver Broncos running back Javonte Williams. 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