{"id":694789,"date":"2026-01-21T22:17:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/694789\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T22:17:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:17:30","slug":"cowboys-high-priority-22-million-free-agent-predicted-to-leave-dallas-for-commanders-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/694789\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys high-priority $22 million free agent predicted to leave Dallas for Commanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cowboys high-priority $22 million free agent predicted to leave Dallas for Commanders<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the most important free agents the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> have to make a decision on is running back Javonte Williams.<\/p>\n

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Signed to a one-year, $3 million last offseason, Williams proved to be an absolute steal for the Cowboys after posting career-bests with 1,201 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, which also helped revive his career.<\/p>\n

Throughout the season, both sides have made it clear they want to stay together, and that is the expectation as free agency looms in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to bring him back and sign him to a multiple-year deal,\u201d\u00a0Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said<\/a>\u00a0of Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t always want to just follow money and things like that. You want to go somewhere where you actually want to succeed and be a part of something that\u2019s special. So, I feel like it\u2019s very special here. But I am just trying to keep making plays right now and see how it turns out,” Williams said.<\/p>\n

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However, Pro Football and Sports Network’s Ryan Guthrie<\/a> sees things differently. He predicts the Washington Commanders<\/a> will scoop up Williams, who Spotrac projects will land<\/a> a three-year, $22 million contract.<\/p>\n

Here’s Guthrie’s thoughts on the move.<\/p>\n

Washington can afford to gamble. With\u00a0Jayden Daniels\u00a0on a rookie deal, the Commanders can invest in a physical run game.<\/p>\n

Javonte Williams\u00a0is coming off a career year with over 1,200 rushing yards and a top-10 NFL PFSN RB impact grade (74.5). Dan Quinn gets back to a hard-nosed identity while protecting his young quarterback.<\/p>\n

This is a logical prediction from Guthrie, as the Commanders definitely need an addition at the running back position.<\/p>\n

Washington has Austin Ekeler, Jeremy McNichols and Chris Rodriguez all set to be free agents, which leaves Jacory Croskey-Merritt as the only notable back under contract for 2026.<\/p>\n

While “Bill” showed plenty of promise, there were plenty of warts as well and chances are the Commanders are not going to hand him the starting job in 2026.<\/p>\n

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Adding Williams gives the Commanders a grinder who can carry the load and take some pressure off Jayden Daniels, something that should be a point of emphasis.<\/p>\n

A one-two punch of Williams and Croskey-Merritt would be a versatile duo.<\/p>\n

The former is a power runner capable of making an impact in the passing game, and Croskey-Merritt offers a fantastic change of pace as a more explosive back.<\/p>\n

We tend to believe Williams is going to stay in Dallas, but the Commanders have a distinct advantage over the Cowboys with a ton of cap space<\/a>, and that could prove to be the difference.<\/p>\n

More NFL News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cowboys high-priority $22 million free agent predicted to leave Dallas for Commanders originally appeared on The Sporting News.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[4142,8212,427,257,7,3006,1274,734,8227,6,1119,855,111,2480],"class_list":["post-694789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-commanders","tag-austin-ekeler","tag-chris-rodriguez","tag-commanders","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-football","tag-jacory-croskey-merritt","tag-javonte-williams","tag-jayden-daniels","tag-jeremy-mcnichols","tag-nfl","tag-the-cowboys","tag-washington","tag-washington-commanders","tag-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115935408998730523","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}