The Jets announced the trade that will send defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys.
The team confirmed it is acquiring a 2027 first-round pick and a 2026 second-round pick, along with defensive tackle Mazi Smith, for Williams.
The Cowboys discussed a trade for Williams before the season started in a potential deal involving Micah Parsons, Todd Archer of ESPN reports. The Cowboys were told the Jets didn’t have the resources to sign Parsons to a new contract.
The Cowboys now have Kenny Clark, one of the returns in the Parsons’ trade to Green Bay, Williams and Osa Odighizuwa, who they signed to an $80 million contract in March, in the interior of their defensive line.
Williams is a three-time Pro Bowler and a one-time All-Pro. In 98 games with the Jets, he totaled 322 tackles, 59 tackles for loss and 40 sacks.
Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson had played alongside linebacker Logan Wilson since 2021, when Hendrickson signed with Cincinnati as a free agent and helped the team advance to Super Bowl LVI.
But once the Bengals benched Wilson earlier this season, the writing was on the wall that the linebacker was on his way out.
That became official on Tuesday, as the Bengals traded Wilson to the Cowboys.
After the deal was executed, Hendrickson noted that he’ll miss his friend, but he’s glad Wilson will get another chance to play.
“I have nothing but respect for the way he handled himself as a professional in times of adversity,” Hendrickson said, via Jay Morrison of SI.com. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a football player and what he’s done in his career. And I have even more respect for how he carries himself as a man and now a captain.
“He’s a good friend of mine. Friendships don’t just dissolve in the National Football League. He’ll be a friend for life. … I wish him nothing but success. There’s nothing but air and opportunity in Dallas for him, and it’s good that he’s going to be back in a linebacker role. That’s where he deserves to be.”
Wilson started seven games this season, recording 46 total tackles with four passes defensed. He also recovered one fumble.
A third-round pick in 2020, Wilson had played his entire career with the Bengals.
The Jets sent defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys for a second-round pick in 2026 and a first-round pick in 2027, as well as defensive tackle Mazi Smith.
The Cowboys own two first-round picks in 2027, having acquired the Packers’ first-rounders for 2026 and 2027 in the Micah Parsons trade.
The Jets will receive the higher of the 2027 first-round picks the Cowboys own.
After today’s trades of Williams and cornerback Sauce Gardner, the Jets have two first-round picks in 2026 (theirs and the Colts) and their own second-round pick. They have three first-round picks in 2027 — theirs, the Cowboys and the Colts.
The 2027 draft is projected to be loaded with talent.
For a team that was resisting a fire sale, the Jets are currently standing in front of a burned-out building with a credit-card reader.
And they’ve added three first-round picks, and more. (Which arguably makes it anything but a “fire sale"; it’s more like full retail.)
First, they sent cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Colts. Now, the Jets have shipped defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys.
The Cowboys, per multiple reports, are giving a first-round and a second-round pick to the Jets for Williams. Per NFL Media, it’s the Cowboys’ first-round pick and not the first-round pick they acquired from the Packers for Micah Parsons. The Jets also will be getting former first-round defensive tackle Mazi Smith.
Williams was the third overall pick in the 2019 draft. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2022, and he’s a three-time Pro Bowler.
He now joins one of the worst defenses in the NFL, a 3-5-1 team that is facing a steep uphill climb to the playoffs.
Williams is signed through 2027. His base salary for 2025 is $15.65 million. Next year, it increases to $20.75 million. In 2027, it becomes $25.4 million.
Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones is a very good businessman. Whether he’s a good football executive remains up for debate.
His ultimate goal isn’t winning games. He acts like it is. And, sure, he’d rather win than lose. But the real victories come on the balance sheet, and he knows how to keep his team profitable.
By keeping it relevant.
Jones essentially admitted that he’s part carnival barker, part snake-oil salesman during a Monday appearance with Stephen A. Smith of Sirius XM.
“What you do is a little bit of my philosophy,” Jones told Smith. “Controversy. Controversy. I’m serious. I’m dead serious. Not serial killing. Not that. But controversy. The Dallas Cowboys probably have the kind of interest that we have in no small part because we stay out front and we stay controversial. When it gets slow, I stir that shit up. Fact. Fact. Fact. . . . My point I just want to be relevant. I just want you to be looking at us. . . . I don’t think that has ever kept us from scoring a touchdown, one. I don’t think it has kept us from having a football player, one. I don’t think it has ever kept us from having the financial wherewithal to get a football player.”
While it’s difficult if not impossible to draw a line between Jerry’s antics and his football team’s achievements, it’s a given that distractions don’t help. And Jerry’s creates distractions. If distractions generally are regarded as less than ideal, the stir-shit strategy definitely won’t make the on-field product better.
If anything, it will only make it worse.
But it has been successful, as it relates to the pursuit of profit. Despite no NFC Championship appearances in 30 years and counting, the Cowboys remain highly relevant on the national stage.
