Washington's rumored interest ignites a bidding war for Javonte Williams. Will the Commanders steal him, or will Dallas secure their star running back?
FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys have announced their intentions on free agent running back Javonte Williams.
He's worth keeping.
But maybe the rival Washington Commanders have another idea ...
He's worth stealing.
Cowboys running back Williams didn't have many suitors last offseason, coming off a down season in 2024 - and an injury-riddled time - with the Denver Broncos.
Fast forward to now, and Williams has just rattled off a 1,201-yard, 11-TD season. easily the best of his career.
And maybe the Cowboys are not alone in their admiration of him.
Williams signed a one-year, $3 million deal last offseason. A "prove-it" deal if we've ever seen one - and he proved it.
How important is it to re-sign Javonte? And how does Washington's rumored interest come into play?
Cowboys COO Stephen Jones has stated the franchise wants to re-sign Williams to a multi-year deal.
We have speculated that maybe that can be done for $6 million APY. ... all part of a reward for his work in fixing what was broken in 2024.
Back then? Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle had Dallas ranked 27th in rushing offense (100.3 yards per game).
In 2025, with Javonte? Dallas ranked ninth in rushing offense (125.6 yards per game).
Dallas' vision is to re-sign Javonte to pair him with rookie Jaydon Blue to create a "Thunder and Lightning'' combo ... and of course, drafting a back is always in play as well.
Meanwhile ...
Washington's only running back under contract is rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt. And Javonte is predicted to sign with Washington in a wild guess from Pro Football Network.
PFN is suggesting this with no "inside info'' - not from Dallas and not from Washington.
The fact is, the Commanders are at this moment no more likely to sign Williams than they are to sign Seattle's Kenneth Walker or the Jets' Breece Hall or the Jags' Travis Etienne or any other back on the market.
So we're going to stick with Stephen's vow here.
“Javonte is at the top of our list to go out and sign. and we want to bring him back,” Stephen said recently. “We want to sign him to a multiple-year deal, and Adam (Prasifka, Dallas cap guy) and I have been talking about it, how we want to get started with his agent.
"It's my understanding he really wants to be back as well, which is helpful, but certainly that's one of our priorities is to get him re-signed.”