FRISCO — You only get a chance to face your former team for the first time once. And if Cowboys running back Javonte Williams wanted to, he could’ve followed the lead of the very guy he replaced in Dallas and made that occasion a focus this week.
Rico Dowdle, now with the Panthers, told his former teammates in Dallas to buckle up before they played each other two weeks ago before backing it up with 239 total yards and two touchdowns.
Williams, however, didn’t take the bait when he asked if his former Broncos teammates need to buckle up this Sunday. In fact, the NFL’s second-leading rusher didn’t answer at all.
He had no words. Just a smile as he waited for the next question.
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“It’s business,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said about Williams’ return to Denver. “And I’m sure he wants to keep it that way.”
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It’s a revenge game, to use a popular phrase, centered around a player who doesn’t have revenge on his mind. But the occasion does bring to mind another element of this game: where would the Cowboys be if Williams was still in Denver?
“We bet right,” said Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer.
Apt phrasing — and definitely not for circumstances occurring in another sports league on Thursday. It’s appropriate because signing Williams ultimately was a gamble for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys, in Schottenheimer’s first season, elected to almost completely remodel their backfield. They let Dowdle, a 1,000-yard rusher for them, hit free agency. They ultimately signed veteran Miles Sanders later in free agency and drafted two running backs in Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah to round out a backfield that included fullback Hunter Luepke.
But the backfield needed a centerpiece. On the first day of free agency, the Cowboys — often inactive in the initial wave of free agency — targeted Williams. Cowboys co-owner Stephen Jones said recently that Williams was someone they liked in the draft when he was a second-round pick out of North Carolina in 2021. Multiple people around the Cowboys mentioned recently that they remember when he and the Broncos came to AT&T Stadium during his rookie season in 2021. Williams, young and healthy, had his first 100-yard rushing game that day in a win over the Cowboys.
The gamble, however, was not based on what Williams was back then, but what he was recently. Williams suffered a torn ACL during his second season in the NFL. Prior to the injury, he was averaging 4.4 yards per carry. In his two healthy seasons after in Denver, Williams averaged 3.6 yards per carry.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton, according to Williams, told him after his rookie contract that they’d be in touch. When asked if the Broncos countered the Cowboys’ offer, Williams said he didn’t know, referring the question to his agent.
There was other interest in Williams outside Denver, however. Williams said he remembers the phone ringing with interest from multiple teams, but it was the Cowboys who had perhaps the most interest. Williams had a lot of interest in the team, too. His father, Jermaine, still remembers the call he received from Williams when his son said he was going to the Cowboys.
“I could hear it in his voice,” Jermaine told The Dallas Morning News earlier this season, “and I knew that’s where he wanted to be.”
Schottenheimer, the self-described “President of the Javonte Williams Fan Club,” believed that Williams could be the running back he once was, once again.
“When we dove into the background of the young man, there was no question in our minds that he was going to be back to normal,” Schottenheimer said. “We didn’t know if that would be Day 1? Day 2? I don’t know if today he’s back to normal. I hope there’s even more room for improvement. He’s really good. But I think that was the main thing for us and to understand, with these injuries now, yeah, there’s a process and it’s going to take eight, nine, 10 months sometimes.”
If anything, the difference in Denver between Williams’ production before the ACL tear and after helped lower the cost of Williams. The Cowboys signed him to a one-year deal worth $3 million.
“I think any player that you’re discussing in free agency you start with … what is the value here?” said Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams. “I think there were a lot of people who were kicking the tires on Javonte going, ‘Well, he’s coming back from the injury, we’re not really sure.’ I think our personnel department and [Schottenheimer] saw that this is an opportunity because we think this guy is really good and he’s maybe not commanding as high of a price as he would have last tear without the injuries.”
Williams has been so good for the Cowboys — with an average of 5.3 yards per carry — that you’d expect them to be surprised by this sudden resurgence. The coaches say they aren’t, however, because of the work they’ve seen him put in since he’s arrived. His intelligence as a former high school valedictorian has translated to the field, especially in terms of reading defenses and blocking blitzers. His physicality has been apparent, including multiple times last Sunday in a win over the Washington Commanders. He started the game by running through Commanders corner Marshon Lattimore. He also had a run before the end of the half that set up a touchdown for the Cowboys. He carried multiple defenders inside the 5-yard line on that one.
“Dominant, knows every part of our game and our offense, the ins and outs,” Prescott said about Williams. “Knows the defense. Knows everything about them when we’re playing them. Honestly, if I ask him back there, I can get probably any alert or reminder that I needed to. He’s just as in tune as I am.”
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For what it’s worth: The Broncos are doing OK at running back, too. J.K. Dobbins, a free agent acquisition by Denver, has 521 rushing yards this season at an average of 5 yards per carry.
The Cowboys, however, are certainly happy that they bet on Williams.
Prescott was asked on Thursday where the Cowboys would be without Williams. Prescott paused before offering a quick response.
“I don’t like to think negative,” he said.
No words. Just a smile and a wait for the next question.
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