{"id":43390,"date":"2026-02-14T23:39:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43390"},"modified":"2026-02-14T23:39:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:39:02","slug":"cowboys-former-2nd-round-pick-receives-high-praise-from-nfl-insiders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43390","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys&#8217; Former 2nd Round Pick Receives High Praise From NFL Insiders"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2247336947-e1771107817686.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2247336947-e1771107817686.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2247336947-e1771107817686.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2247336947-e1771107817686.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Cowboys' Former 2nd Round Pick Receives High Praise From NFL Insiders\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>If the Dallas Cowboys are going to turn things around on defense in 2026, it might not be entirely because they make a big trade for a star player like NFL All-Pro edge rusher Maxx Crosby or hit home runs with each of their 1st round picks in the NFL draft.<\/p>\n<p>It might have to be because a gaggle of role players go above and beyond what\u2019s expected of them \u2014 a group that might be led by former 2nd round pick and 6-foot-4, 261-pound edge rusher Sam Williams.<\/p>\n<p>Williams was singled out by Pro Football Focus as the NFL\u2019s \u201cMost Improved\u2019 edge rusher in the 2nd half of the 2025 season, which might bode well for 2026 if the Cowboys can bring him back \u2014 he only has a Spotrac projection of a 1-year, $2.3 million free agent contract.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe play of edge defender Sam\u00a0Williams over the course of the season was one of few bright spots for the Cowboys,\u201d PFF\u2019s Thomas Valentine wrote. \u201cWilliams was ineffective early on with a 39.9 PFF grade \u2014 117th out of 118 edge defenders \u2026 From Week 10 onward, Williams earned an 80.6 PFF grade, the 11th-best among edge defenders. Williams recorded just nine pressures in eight games, but also accrued 10 stops and forced a fumble. His 74.7 PFF run-defense grade was also 13th at the position, and no one had a more improved grade in the second half of the season than Williams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Williams played in all 17 games in 2025, including his first 5 career starts. The Cowboys finished 30th in the NFL in team defense as they went 7-9-1 overall and missed the playoffs for the 2nd consecutive season.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Fast Start to Career Derailed by 2024 Injury<\/h2>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Williams had 8.5 sacks through his first 2 seasons before he suffered a season-ending ACL tear and partial MCL tear during training camp in 2024 and missed the entire season.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">The Athletic\u2019s Jon Machota predicted Williams as a breakout player for the Cowboys in 2025 \u2014 he might have just been one year (or half year) off.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">\u201cWilliams holds the top spot here because his size and athletic ability are ideal for being an elite edge rusher,\u201d Machota wrote. \u201cThe 2022 second-round pick just hasn\u2019t been able to put it all together. His breakout season was supposed to be last year, but a season-ending knee injury in training camp put everything on hold.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Williams Set SEC Program\u2019s Sacks Record in 2021<\/h2>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Williams\u2019 career almost went off the rails several different times before he was selected by the Cowboys in the second round (No. 56 overall) of the\u00a02022 NFL draft.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">In high school, he was expelled for having a knife on school grounds. After transferring from Northeast Mississippi Community College to Ole Miss, he was suspended in July 2020 after an arrest for felony sexual battery but reinstated after the charges were dropped.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Williams put together a season for the ages in 2021 with 57 tackles, 16 TFL, 4 forced fumbles and one fumble returned for a touchdown \u2014 he also set the school single season record with 12.5 sacks.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">He followed that with a stunning performance at the NFL scouting combine, where he checked in at 6-foot-4 and 261 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.46 seconds and registered a 36-inch vertical jump.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Sam Williams was singled out as one of the NFL&#8217;s &#8220;Most Improved Players&#8221; in second half of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dallas-cowboys"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cowboys&#039; 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