In the offseason, Dallas Cowboys fans weren’t quite sure what to make of the crowded backfield featuring Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders, Jaydon Blue, and Phil Mafah. Things didn’t go well last season, with the Cowboys struggling in the ground game and ranking among the worst rushing offenses in the NFL, so Jerry Jones decided to blow up the position and start fresh.
That decision has been a home run, as Williams has been a revelation. He's been one of the most efficient RBs in football through three weeks, according to a lot of metrics.
Williams currently ranks third with 4.6 yards after contact per carry. Per Brandon Loree of Blogging The Boys, that would be the most by any Dallas running back in the Next Gen Stats era, which started in 2016. That was the year Ezekiel Elliott was drafted No. 4 overall by the Cowboys.
Javonte Williams is off to a brilliant start with the Cowboys
It's pretty astonishing that Elliott never eclipsed more than 4.0 yards after contact per carry in a season. The three-time Pro Bowler was never considered a speed demon, but he had plenty of speed to burn early in his career. However, he made a name for himself running through and hurdling over defenders, as well as falling forward through contact.
Despite that, Elliott's career high for yards after contact per attempt in a season was 3.23 in 2019, per PFF. That is when his proverbial decline started. He posted at least 2.81 yards per contact in each of his first four seasons, which is a totally respectable number. You'd be hard-pressed to name a better running back in the world from 2016-2019 than Elliott.
And yet, Williams is clearing him in this one department pretty comfortably. Of course, we're talking about a three-game sample size. It stands to reason that Williams' efficiency after contact will decline as his body takes more and more hits over the 17-game schedule. But he hasn't shown any signs of slowing down.
The 25-year-old leads all running backs with a 67.4 rushing success rate, and he's among the leaders in rushing EPA and explosive rush rate.
While offensive coordinator Klayton Adams, the architect behind the run game, deserves some of the credit for Williams' breakout, almost all of the credit goes to the player. He's routinely turning potential negative gains into positive yards and four and five-yard carries into explosive runs because of how hard and determined he's running.
He is by far the best thing to come out of the first three games.