JULY 29: Williams also suffered a partial MCL tear yesterday, per David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. That will add further to his recovery time as he turns his attention to the 2025 campaign and his ability to rebuild his free agent value.
JULY 28: The Cowboys were set to enter the 2024 NFL season with defensive end as a position of strength. Unfortunately, an early training camp injury has changed that picture a bit in Dallas. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, defensive end Sam Williams is reported to have suffered a torn ACL, ending his third year in the league before it had a chance to get off the ground. After initial speculation from Pelissero and the team, Ian Rapoport was the one to confirm the positive MRI results. 
Williams joined the Cowboys’ defensive front in 2022 after getting drafted out of Ole Miss in the second round. His rookie year saw him buried on the depth chart behind Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Dorance Armstrong, and Dante Fowler, yet he still managed to tally four sacks while rotating in. He also showed his disruptive nature in other ways, finishing only behind Parsons on the team with 10 tackles for loss.
In his sophomore campaign, Williams worked his way past Fowler on the depth chart and even outproduced Lawrence, finishing the season third on the team in sacks with 4.5. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) has been friendly to Williams over the years, ranking him as the 54th-best pass rusher out of 119 at the position in 2022 and the 51st out of 112 in 2023 — both years in limited time. Last year, PFF graded him with the 37th-best pass rushing grade in the league.
Up to now, health had hardly been an issue for Williams. In two years of NFL play, Williams only missed two games, both in his rookie season, and one of them was the result of a car accident. He was arrested shortly before the 2023 season but didn’t end up missing any time as a result of the incident.
With two of his competitors for snaps, Armstrong and Fowler, now set to take starting reps for the division-rival Commanders, Williams was in line for a larger responsibility and snap share in 2024. After running fifth and fourth on the depth chart in his first two seasons, Williams had once again worked his way up and was set to run as the third defensive end for the year.
The team utilized a second-round pick on Western Michigan’s Marshawn Kneeland in April to helps minimize the impact of Armstrong and Fowler’s departures, but now, Kneeland will likely be asked to step up into the role Williams was set up for. Kneeland wasn’t an elite pass rusher for the Broncos, only amassing 13.0 sacks in five years; his seasons in college actually much resembled the NFL production of Williams’ first two years, so perhaps he’s well-equipped to step into that role.
Unless Dallas turns to the veteran free agent market, which they may have to do, the Cowboys will have to rely on other players for that lost depth. Viliami Fehoko returns in 2024. A fourth-round rookie last year, Fehoko failed to make any game appearances before being placed on injured reserve with a knee injury in mid-November. He was activated in January but still didn’t see the field. Tyrus Wheat is the other depth option after appearing in 12 games for the Cowboys last year as an undrafted rookie.
While that may not be enough for Dallas, and they may need to seek some free agent help, one thing that’s certain is that Williams will not be able to contribute this year. That makes 2025 a crucial year for Williams as it will be the final year of his rookie contract and his final chance to show what he can bring to a defense that already rosters an All-Pro star in Parsons.
Well, that’s unfortunate. The fact that the team was so reluctant to add pieces made them more reliant on young players like Williams. For Williams particularly, this was going to be the prove-it year, and he looked poised to earn a contract.
Operating under the assumption that there aren’t really any reliable starting pass rush options in free agency right now, this also puts more of an emphasis on the veteran Lawrence. Would Dallas re-sign him, or try to if he would accept it, after this? While I would have put a Lawrence extension completely off the books for this upcoming offseason, this does crack open the door for exploration if he produces this year in light of Williams’ inability to do so. Otherwise, this looked like a step back year for him as Williams (and possibly Kneeland) assumed the reigns. Lawrence is probably going to have to have a higher profile now than he would have otherwise. If he plays well, I wouldn’t rule out an extension-particularly if this Williams development affects the contract that Dallas expected him to earn prior to this year. Given the Parsons expectations, it looks like this could be a cap heavy option-though the big extensions are usually done with a few open early years, backloading three deals at once as the Cowboys seem to want to do could be impossible.
Again, this is operating under the assumption that Kneeland offers the same sack numbers as he did in college. The other alternative, and perhaps better one by some standard, is to have the Cowboys use the draft again on a high pick investment at pass rush. The way that Kneeland plays will dictate all of these possibilities, of course. Assuming that he plays like he did in college, the Cowboys will need someone to take charge of the pass rush responsibilities on the edge. Kneeland might not even end up playing primarily outside, anyway, though he looks like he’ll be there. If Kneeland doesn’t assume that role in a way that Dallas feels comfortable, if Williams doesn’t like the prove it deal that this injury presumably locks him into with Dallas, or if Lawrence isn’t offered or accepts a short extension, I think that Dallas won’t have a choice but to use another high pick at the end spot. There is of course, in the scenario that Kneeland doesn’t produce, that the Cowboys choose patience and sign depth, but it would hard to justify competing without adding a reliable complement to Parsons on the other side.
If Kneeland turns out to actually capitalize on his athleticism with tangible production, this puts the worries to bed. As far as the numbers role for the pass rush goes, though, there should be some plans worked out for the pass rushing specialty in Dallas right now, especially with their upcoming negotiations with Parsons.
Typical over valuation of an average player on the Cowboys by both PFF (who refuses to disclose how they rate players) and the Cowboys themselves. I have a ‘feeling’ that a new ‘star’ will emerge on the Cowboys to replace him.
Also, as one writer posted on here, “if he (Kneeland) just matches his college production…”, well, most if not all 1st year players taken from a smaller school (Western Michigan) hardly ever ‘match’ their college production in their rookie year.