RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The Dallas Cowboys have their sights set on their next big contract extension target, and no, it's not franchise-tagged wide receiver George Pickens .
That would be four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Quinnen Williams . Dallas invested heavily to acquire Williams at the 2025 trade deadline, shipping the more favorable of its own or the Green Bay Packers ' 2027 first-round pick, a 2026 second-round pick and former first-round defensive tackle Mazi Smith to the New York Jets .
At 28, Williams is in the midst of his prime and fresh off a 2025 campaign in which he was one of only two defensive tackles to rank in the NFL's top 10 in both pass rush win rate and run stop win rate, along with Osa Odighizuwa , per ESPN.
He is under contract with Dallas through the 2027 season, but the Cowboys may want to extend him sooner rather than later after the defensive tackle market jumped this offseason. The Tennessee Titans extended All-Pro Jeffery Simmons on a three-year, $105.828 million contract ($35.276 million per year) at age 29, and the Philadelphia Eagles extended two-time Pro Bowler Jalen Carter on a four-year, $152 million deal ($38 million per year) at age 25.
That's why it may save the Cowboys money down the road if they opt to be proactive and get a deal done now. While that's typically not how they operate , they might treat Williams differently.
"We're very open to that," Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said Sunday at Dallas' opening training camp press conference . "We want Quinnen here for the long haul. Obviously, we've got a lot of resources tied up in him. He knows what we think about him, we've had some discussions with the agent about how to go about the process.
"Certainly he's one of the best in the business, and we know kind of what that market is. Obviously, it evolves and changes with each new deal, which is the case at any position. Certainly he's at the top of the list in terms of the people that we want to keep around here long term, and there's other players on the roster that we may take a look at as well."
It takes two to tango, but Williams said he "definitely would enjoy and love being here for the long haul" when asked this week about signing an extension with the Cowboys.
"For sure, man," Williams said Wednesday . "Especially being here with these guys, man. You've got a phenomenal group, a phenomenal staff, organization-wise, it's unbelievable. And then having guys that you can call and lean on, like DeMarcus Ware is one of my guys, it's unbelievable, man.
"Like I said, I'm not focused on no contract, I definitely want to be here for the long haul, I definitely would enjoy and love being here for the long haul, but I want to win, and that's kind of the only thing I'm really focused on."
Dallas positioned Williams as the new All-Pro heart of its defense after trading edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Packers a week before the 2025 season began, and that belief is one of the driving reasons Williams is so open to remaining a Cowboy.
"When somebody believes in you, to know that, 'Okay, you're one of the guys I feel like can help us win and help us achieve the goal that we always want to achieve.' So as soon as I got traded, I wanted to be here, I wanted to be here for the long haul," Williams said. "I didn't want to just come and play around, I want to be here and win, I want to win for the organization."
However, he's well aware that the defensive tackle market continues to rise. Williams said he and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark were joking about how the market has evolved. They recalled the days when Fletcher Cox and Aaron Donald were among the NFL's highest-paid defensive tackles, and now Carter ($38 million per year) and Simmons ($35.276 million per year) have nearly doubled those salaries on their new deals.
Carter is also one of the players Williams has studied this offseason since new Dallas defensive coordinator Christian Parker arrived after spending the past two seasons with the Eagles as their defensive backs/defensive passing game coordinator.
"He's well deserving of every penny he's got and earned," Williams said of Carter. "It's fantastic watching him on film, trying to see what I can take from his game and put in the same scheme that we're kind of running right now.
"It's just phenomenal to see the impact that my position, defensive tackle, is making. You always see the teams that are in the Super Bowl have D-tackles with Seattle [Byron Murphy and Leonard Williams ], the Eagles [Carter and Jordan Davis ] and Kansas City [ Chris Jones ] in a few years. Those guys have been very effective and things like that. That's all I focus on, just focus on bringing an impact to this team, bringing an impact to this defense and trying to get this team going in the right direction so another D-tackle will be in the Super Bowl."
After the Cowboys defense ranked last in the NFL in scoring defense in 2025 -- allowing 30.1 points per game in one season under now-fired defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus -- Williams' focus is mastering Parker's new scheme. He aims to help his side of the ball play closer to the level of Dallas' offense, which averaged the NFL's seventh-most points per game (27.7) last season.
"I want to win for not only me, myself personally, but guys like Dak Prescott who works his tail off and has been here 10 years and deserves a Super Bowl," Williams said. "And guys like CeeDee [Lamb], who's a five-time Pro Bowler and been here for five years, and who deserves a Super Bowl. You just see those things like that, and you just see how great they were last year, and the defense wasn't so great. It just urges me, personally, to get this defense together so the hard work that they put in won't just be going to waste anymore."
So where do things stand between Williams and the Jones family regarding a potential extension? The 2022 first-team All-Pro defensive tackle is taking a page from Prescott's playbook and letting his agent...
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