Draft Note by John Paulsen
It’s put-up or shut-up time for Javonte Williams. Now two full seasons removed from his devastating knee injury, Williams told team reporter Tommy Yarrish that he “feels completely like [him]self” and that the healing process is “done.” That may be true physically, but the numbers suggest otherwise. As a rookie, Williams was a tackle-breaking machine—first in broken tackles per attempt (0.153), with strong marks in both yards before (2.2) and after (2.3) contact per attempt. But in 2024, he averaged just 1.9 yards before contact (20th percentile), 1.8 after contact (20th), and a meager 0.029 broken tackles per attempt (7th). He hasn’t looked like the same explosive runner he was pre-injury. The Cowboys added Miles Sanders in free agency and drafted Jaydon Blue, whose speed and receiving chops could quickly carve out a role. Williams hasn’t been promised anything, but he is getting first-team reps in early practices. He’ll need to fend off multiple challengers to return RB3/flex value, but he has the inside track—for now. Consider him a shaky RB3 with a short leash and limited upside.
Javonte Williams
- RB
- , Dallas Cowboys
- 25
- 220 lbs
- 5' 10"
- North Carolina
- 103
- 1
Full Season Projection
- Full Season Projection
- Dfs Projection
Draft note
It’s put-up or shut-up time for Javonte Williams. Now two full seasons removed from his devastating knee injury, Williams told team reporter Tommy Yarrish that he “feels completely like [him]self” and that the healing process is “done.” That may be true physically, but the numbers suggest otherwise. As a rookie, Williams was a tackle-breaking machine—first in broken tackles per attempt (0.153), with strong marks in both yards before (2.2) and after (2.3) contact per attempt. But in 2024, he averaged just 1.9 yards before contact (20th percentile), 1.8 after contact (20th), and a meager 0.029 broken tackles per attempt (7th). He hasn’t looked like the same explosive runner he was pre-injury. The Cowboys added Miles Sanders in free agency and drafted Jaydon Blue, whose speed and receiving chops could quickly carve out a role. Williams hasn’t been promised anything, but he is getting first-team reps in early practices. He’ll need to fend off multiple challengers to return RB3/flex value, but he has the inside track—for now. Consider him a shaky RB3 with a short leash and limited upside.
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2025 Strength of Schedule - DAL
| W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | W7 | W8 | W9 | W10 | W11 | W12 | W13 | W14 | W15 | W16 | W17 | W18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 @PHI | 28 NYG | 25 @CHI | 14 GB | 12 @NYJ | 32 @CAR | 19 WAS | 17 @DEN | 22 ARI | BYE | 18 @LV | 2 PHI | 1 KC | 5 @DET | 3 MIN | 8 LAC | 19 @WAS | 28 @NYG |
Schedule difficulty based on schedule-adjusted, positional defensive ranking. Top DEF = 1, bottom DEF = 32.
Game Stats
| Week | Opp | RuAtt | RuYds | RuTD | Fum | YPC | Rec | RecYds | RecTD | Tgts | YPR | STD | 0.5 PPR | PPR | Snaps | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @SEA | 8 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 2.88 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | 2.3 | 2.80 | 3.3 | 36/69 | 52.2% |
| 2 | PIT | 11 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1.55 | 5 | 48 | 0 | 5 | 9.60 | 6.5 | 9.00 | 11.5 | 40/61 | 65.6% |
| 3 | @TB | 5 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 2.40 | 4 | 29 | 0 | 4 | 7.25 | 2.1 | 4.10 | 6.1 | 35/68 | 51.5% |
| 4 | @NYJ | 16 | 77 | 0 | 0 | 4.81 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1.50 | 8.0 | 9.00 | 10.0 | 35/61 | 57.4% |
| 5 | LV | 13 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 4.69 | 5 | 50 | 0 | 6 | 10.00 | 11.1 | 13.60 | 16.1 | 40/63 | 63.5% |
| 6 | LAC | 6 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 3.83 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 6 | 4.33 | 1.6 | 3.10 | 4.6 | 37/55 | 67.3% |
| 7 | @NO | 14 | 88 | 2 | 0 | 6.29 | 3 | 23 | 0 | 3 | 7.67 | 23.1 | 24.60 | 26.1 | 41/65 | 63.1% |
| 8 | CAR | 17 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 2.59 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 2.00 | 5.2 | 7.20 | 9.2 | 42/73 | 57.5% |
| 9 | @BAL | 12 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 3.50 | 2 | 42 | 0 | 3 | 21.00 | 8.4 | 9.40 | 10.4 | 39/72 | 54.2% |
| 10 | @KC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 3.00 | 0.7 | 1.70 | 2.7 | 17/58 | 29.3% |
| 11 | ATL | 9 | 59 | 1 | 0 | 6.56 | 4 | 28 | 0 | 5 | 7.00 | 14.7 | 16.70 | 18.7 | 32/62 | 51.6% |
| 12 | @LV | 8 | -2 | 0 | 0 | -0.25 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 3.00 | 0.4 | 1.40 | 2.4 | 38/68 | 55.9% |
| 13 | CLE | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.25 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3.00 | 6.4 | 6.90 | 7.4 | 30/66 | 45.5% |
| 14 | BYE | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 15 | IND | 6 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 2.50 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 4.00 | 2.3 | 3.30 | 4.3 | 34/63 | 54.0% |
| 16 | @LAC | 4 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 7 | 29 | 0 | 11 | 4.14 | 5.3 | 8.80 | 12.3 | 33/64 | 51.6% |
| 17 | @CIN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 1.00 | 2.0 | 22/60 | 36.7% |
| 18 | KC | 5 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 5.60 | 3 | 50 | 0 | 4 | 16.67 | 7.8 | 9.30 | 10.8 | 23/74 | 31.1% |
| Per game | 8.18 | 30.18 | 0.24 | 0.12 | 3.69 | 3.06 | 20.35 | 0 | 4.12 | 6.65 | 6.23 | 7.76 | 9.29 | 33.76/64.82 | 52.22% | |
| Totals | 139 | 513 | 4 | 2 | 3.69 | 52 | 346 | 0 | 70 | 6.65 | 105.9 | 131.9 | 157.9 | 574/1102 | 52.22% | |
