The Dallas Cowboys finished the 2025 regular season as the worst defense in the NFL, but they could've looked a lot worse if they hadn't acquired Quinnen Williams at the deadline. While a few players showed flashes, Williams was the lone consistent difference-maker on defense.
Nick Akridge of Pro Football Focus graded Williams at 91.7 as one of the best run-defenders in the NFL. Following the Micah Parsons trade, it was Jerry Jones' philosophy to stop the run, and the Williams project is proving to work at the peak of his career.
"The Cowboys got everything they were hoping for and more when they acquired Williams. The former third overall pick garnered a 91.7 PFF run-defense grade, which was a career high. Williams forced two fumbles in the run game and led all interior defensive linemen with a ridiculous 14.0% run stop percentage — nearly 2.5% higher than the next-best."Nick Akridge
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' trade for Quinnen Williams has aged wonderfully
PFF graded Williams as the highest-graded DT, and ironically enough, former Cowboys pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence made the list as the best edge defender.
Williams needed the Cowboys just as much as they needed him. Kenny Clark helped establish some structure under Jerry Jones’ new philosophy, but Williams was the move that actually changed games.
Clark and Osa Odighizuwa posted PFF grades of 67.6 and 65.9, respectively. Following the Micah Parsons trade, Dallas committed to becoming a run-first defense, but the key piece of that deal never moved the needle consistently without Quinnen Williams next to him.
Williams was utterly dominant in his debut against the Las Vegas Raiders, and his mere presence allowed Odighizuwa to have one of his best games of the season. Odighizuwa racked up 1.5 sacks and a career-high five QB hits, showing that he can thrive when he's not the main attacker.
The Cowboys' disappointing ending clearly shows they need more pieces on defense to compete. And Williams' elite PFF grade affirms that Jones made the right choice to trade for him. The seventh-year man out of Alabama is smack in the middle of his prime and gives Dallas' defense the chance to be competent in 2026 as long as the front office surrounds him with the right talent.