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ARLINGTON, TEXAS – DECEMBER 14: Javonte Williams #33 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates with Dak Prescott #4 after his rushing touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings during the first quarter at AT&T Stadium on December 14, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
Brian Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys in 2023 when their top running back was Tony Pollard, who ran for 1,005 yards, but hit free agency and bolted for a contract with the Titans. He was the OC again last year, when Rico Dowdle ran for 1,079 yards, then hit free agency and bolted to the Panthers. Now he is the head coach in 2025, and running back Javonte Williams has posted 1,113 through 15 weeks.
Williams, signed to a bargain $3.5 million contract, will hit free agency in a few months and the pattern would suggest he is going to bolt elsewhere for a new contract. Williams, at 25 and in his fifth season after starting his career with four years in Denver, is due for a big raise, a deal worth $21.6 million over three years, according to Spotrac’s market model.
The Cowboys have clearly taken the position–as many teams around the NFL have done–that they can churn through bargain running backs and save cap space to use elsewhere.
Javonte Williams 6th in NFL Rushing
Coach Brian Schottenheimer, though, hopes that pattern gets broken by Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones this offseason. The Cowboys did not pay Pollard or Dowdle, but neither were quite as good or reliable as Williams has been. He ranks sixth in the NFL in rushing yards, and has been solid in pass protection.
Williams averages 4.8 yards per attempt–more than Elliott ever did–and the Cowboys as a whole average 4.6 yards, which is 10th in the NFL. He is carrying a big workload (seventh in carries at 230) and the team has been managing that.
“I can’t give him enough praise,” Schottenheimer said. “I think we see him play really well last week, I think we are learning, Javonte, we want to be a little bit smart with him during the week. He has had a lot of carries this year and doing a great job. Just the way he approaches the preparation.”
Schottenheimer Wants Javonte Williams With Cowboys ‘For a Long Time’
Schottenheimer said he is hopeful that the Cowboys change course and decide to keep Williams around.
“He’s a guy that truly gets it, man,” Schottenheimer said. “He understands to be a great player you have to come to meetings ready to roll, be dialed in, ask questions, take great notes, go to walkthroughs. If something is messed up, ‘Hey. I need that again. Clear that up in my brain,’ go to practice and do things the right way. For a young player that’s— I refer to him as young because he is young — I think that’s where you see the work ethic, you see the maturity, you see the intelligence, and then the talent.
“Yeah, I hope he’s a Cowboy for a long time.”
Cowboys Just Do Not Pay RBs
But if Williams can find a deal worth $21 million over three years, the Cowboys will probably punch out on that. They’ve shown they can keep the position going by bringing in a small handful of veterans and finding one who works out, even if another (Royce Freeman and Elliott last year, Miles Sanders this year) falls by the wayside.
The Cowboys gave Elliott a record-setting six-year, $90 million contract back in 2019, and obviously regretted it almost immediately–his production dropped sharply after that deal. Since then, they’ve trusted the churn-through-RBs plan, and are likely to do it again with Williams.
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
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