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Florio: With Dez Bryant in, could Roy Williams soon be out?
With Dez Bryant in, could Roy Williams soon be out?
Posted by Mike Florio on July 24, 2010 7:47 AM ET
We took the position a couple of weeks ago in an item for SportingNews.com that the Cowboys should cut receiver Roy Williams. The product of one of the worst trades since Jimmy Johnson fleeced the Vikings in the Herschel Walker deal, Williams hasn't come close to living up to the draft-picks that were given up for him (first-round pick, third-round, plus) or the financial investment that the team thereafter made ($9 million annually).
We suggested that, if the Cowboys were considering the move, it would come after rookie first-rounder Dez Bryant agreed to terms, since cutting Williams before signing Bryant would have given Bryant more leverage. Indeed, even acknowledging the possibility that Williams could be cut would have increased Bryant's bargaining power.
So with the Cowboys now intent on getting receiver Miles Austin paid, the time could be coming to move on from Williams.
Working in Williams' favor are severalfactors. First, the team has no urgency at this point to make a decision, since his base salary for 2010 doesn't become guaranteed (as it does for all players with four or more years in the league) until the first regular-season game. Second, the possibility that Austin or Bryant could get injured in training camp or the preseason necessitates keeping WIlliams around, which in turn gives him a chance to show that he can step it up on a better late than never basis. Third, his base salary is only (only?) $3.45 million for 2010, which makes it cheaper to keep him around.
The relatively low base salary also indicates that he already has pocketed plenty of cash after signing a long-term extension during the 2008 season, which also could make it harder for the Cowboys to justify cutting the cord. Still, with no salary cap in place, this would be the best year to dump Williams; if the cap returns for 2011, removing Roy from the roster would require the Cowboys to carry dead money under the spending limit if he is dumped in a future year.
With Dez Bryant in, could Roy Williams soon be out?
Posted by Mike Florio on July 24, 2010 7:47 AM ET
We took the position a couple of weeks ago in an item for SportingNews.com that the Cowboys should cut receiver Roy Williams. The product of one of the worst trades since Jimmy Johnson fleeced the Vikings in the Herschel Walker deal, Williams hasn't come close to living up to the draft-picks that were given up for him (first-round pick, third-round, plus) or the financial investment that the team thereafter made ($9 million annually).
We suggested that, if the Cowboys were considering the move, it would come after rookie first-rounder Dez Bryant agreed to terms, since cutting Williams before signing Bryant would have given Bryant more leverage. Indeed, even acknowledging the possibility that Williams could be cut would have increased Bryant's bargaining power.
So with the Cowboys now intent on getting receiver Miles Austin paid, the time could be coming to move on from Williams.
Working in Williams' favor are severalfactors. First, the team has no urgency at this point to make a decision, since his base salary for 2010 doesn't become guaranteed (as it does for all players with four or more years in the league) until the first regular-season game. Second, the possibility that Austin or Bryant could get injured in training camp or the preseason necessitates keeping WIlliams around, which in turn gives him a chance to show that he can step it up on a better late than never basis. Third, his base salary is only (only?) $3.45 million for 2010, which makes it cheaper to keep him around.
The relatively low base salary also indicates that he already has pocketed plenty of cash after signing a long-term extension during the 2008 season, which also could make it harder for the Cowboys to justify cutting the cord. Still, with no salary cap in place, this would be the best year to dump Williams; if the cap returns for 2011, removing Roy from the roster would require the Cowboys to carry dead money under the spending limit if he is dumped in a future year.