The vibes are good, right now, with the Dallas Cowboys. They're a whole lot better than fans thought they'd be just a few short weeks ago, at least.
Suddenly, the Cowboys are smack dab in the middle of the postseason conversation again. After looking dead in the water, they ripped off three wins in a row, with two of them coming over last year's Super Bowl representatives, before losing to the Detroit Lions on Thursday.
Yet, amid all of the rainbows and unicorns, we're here to highlight a player whose season has not quite echoed those good vibes. In the middle of the Cowboys' recent success, fourth-year defensive lineman Sam Williams has seen his snap count decrease.
It is pretty clear, right about. now, that Williams will not be brought back next offseason.
Cowboys very well could have wasted another valuable draft pick, this time on Sam Williams
In the place of Williams, the Cowboys have much rather had an aging veteran like Jadeveon Clowney on the field for the bulk of those snaps. In his most recent contest against the Kansas City Chiefs, Clowney was able to sack Patrick Mahomes twice.
On the season, Clowney has registered four sacks and 12 pressures in nine appearances, with three starts.
Meanwhile, the former second-round pick back in 2022 has only a single sack on the year. And, although he's played a career-high in snaps this season, that's quite misleading. Williams was out there more, earlier in the season, because first-year defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus refused to make a change.
It isn't any more complex than that.
And now, Eberflus is playing Donovan Ezeiruaku a heck of a lot more as well. Between Ezeiruaku and Clowney, Williams' snaps have gone way down. For example, Williams was on the field for just 19 snaps against Kansas City last week.
Clowney had 29 and Ezeiruaku notched 40. That's a glaring difference.
In the last year of his rookie contract, Williams has performed poorly all around. He has been abysmal against the run, and PFF agrees, giving him a miserable grade of 43.6 on the year in that department.
For what it's worth, he isn't much better rushing the passer, as his grade is still just a 55.2.
Judging off of his overall performnace this year, it doesn't look like the former Mississippi standout will be back. And, thus, Jerry Jones will see yet another valuable draft pick go up in smoke.