Javonte Williams’ season is done.
The Cowboys ruled out the running and four others for Sunday’s season finale against the Giants.
Williams played only 25 of 92 snaps in the Christmas Day win over the Commanders, leaving with shoulder and neck injuries. He did not practice this week.
Williams ends his first — and maybe only — season with the Cowboys with 252 rushes for 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns. All are career bests.
The Cowboys also ruled out offensive guard T.J. Bass (knee), running back Malik Davis (calf/eye), linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (concussion) and cornerback Shavon Revel (concussion/neck).
Rookie running back Jaydon Blue will see his first extensive action of the season. He has played only 45 offensive snaps and nine on special teams, with 22 carries for 65 yards.
The Cowboys list cornerback Josh Butler (knee), running back Phil Mafah (shoulder) and defensive end Payton Tuner (ribs) as questionable. All three appear ready to play if the Cowboys activate them from injured reserve on Saturday.
It seems likely, with the injuries to Williams and Davis, that Mafah will make his NFL debut on Sunday. He is a rookie seventh-round pick.
Tight end Jake Ferguson (calf), right guard Tyler Booker (ankle) and left tackle Tyler Smith (knee) do not have an injury designation.
After Thursday’s comments from Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus caught the eye of former Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, Parsons defended his reaction to Eberflus linking the team’s defensive performance to the sudden departure of Parsons via late August trade.
“Y’all want me to feel bad?” Parsons posted on Twitter. “Jerry Jones slandered my name to Cowboys media and national media for months. So I do think I can react to comment if I want to!”
In his usual Friday appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Jones addressed Parsons’s remarks.
“I wish Micah the very best,” Jones said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “I’d love to have Micah on the team. But we just couldn’t afford him. We wanted four or five players more than we did him. But he’s outstanding. I understand his sensitivity and can even understand these comments.”
They say business isn’t personal. But the Parsons business became personal, once Parsons refused to reduce to writing the deal he supposedly agreed to in direct conversations with Jones. In turn, Jones refused to negotiate with Parsons’s agent, David Mulugheta.
The Cowboys, in our view, had banked on Parsons playing under his fifth-year option, kicking the can to 2026 for a possible franchise-tag dance. When it became clear that Parsons would refuse to practice or play due to a back injury, the Cowboys decided to get what they could for Parsons, in lieu of paying him a market-level deal that would have been much more expensive than the fifth-year option now and the franchise tag later.
Along the way, things were said. Feathers were ruffled. That’s how Jones, first, tried to get what he wanted and, second, played the P.R. game when it became clear that the only move was to move on from Parsons.
More than two months after the trade happened, Jones took a clear shot at Parsons while praising former Cowboys Michael Irvin and DeMarcus Ware.
“Not one time, not even in the hottest of days and two-a-days in August in Texas, between eleven in the morning or when they quit practicing or four in the afternoon, did I never see any one of these two go over and lay on a damn training table in front of a million people,” Jones said. “Never. It’s not in their makeup. . . . It’s just not in their makeup. . .
“And you’d like to think if you’re going to be [paying] the highest that’s ever been paid for something in football, you could get that. And when you don’t have it and you pay the highest that’s ever been in football, you really got a problem.”
Jones was still trying to justify trading Parsons. And, yes, that included slandering his name by suggesting that Parsons isn’t worthy to be the highest-paid defensive player in football, tying it to the fact that he was taking a stand to get the contract Jones refused to give him.
For Parsons, it’s understandably personal. For Jones, it’s all business. And his business interests required him to make it personal with Parsons. Which explains why Jones isn’t bothered by Parsons’s natural reaction to Jerry’s tactics.
Still, the message to other players should be obvious. Starting with receiver George Pickens.
If you don’t do what Jerry wants you to do, he’ll eventually slander your name, too.
The Giants fired Brian Daboll on Nov. 10 after the club started 2-8, leaving Daboll with a 20-40-1 record.
Now as the 2025 regular season comes to its conclusion, New York’s coaching search is starting to take shape with the club casting a wide net.
Jordan Raanan of ESPN reports the Giants’ list of candidates includes former Packers and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, former Raiders head coach and former Giants player Antonio Pierce, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, and Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula.
While owners John Mara and Steve Tisch will make the final decision on the next coach, the search is being led by General Manager Joe Schoen.
Schoen’s presence is not expected to hamper candidates’ interest in the job, Raanan notes.
Raanan also lists interim head coach Mike Kafka, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke, Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Vikings QBs coach Josh McCown, and Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski as potential candidates for the job.
As for current head coaches, Raanan lists the entire slate in the AFC North — Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh, and Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor — as candidates, with Stefanski as “a name to watch” who could attract “serious interest” should he be fired.
The Giants can interview candidates who are not currently with teams now, including McCarthy and Pierce.
The Dolphins will be hiring a new G.M. They’ve hired a Hall of Fame quarterback to assist with the process.
And it’s not Dan Marino, who’s already on the payroll.
Per multiple reports, which landed at the exact same time, the Dolphins have retained Troy Aikman as a consultant for the looming search for a General Manager.
It’s not a permanent role. And even though Aikman has mused about being a General Manager, he’s reportedly not a candidate.
Then again, he’s the consultant. What’s to prevent Aikman from eventually deciding that he’s the right person for the job?
Whoever gets the job will have some decisions to make, starting with the status of coach Mike McDaniel, and continuing with the plan at quarterback.
Aikman’s consulting gig won’t necessarily conflict with his job as ESPN’s primary analyst for NFL games, since the Dolphins aren’t in the postseason. It’s nevertheless an unexpected and unusual development, given that Aikman has no front-office experience — and that he covers the league at large via Monday Night Football.
Even if Aikman’s assignment is short-term in nature, it could be the first step toward Aikman making a transition from broadcaster to team executive.
Sunday may be Matt Eberflus’ last game as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator and his press conference on Thursday focused on what went wrong on that side of the ball this season.
Eberflus said that “ownership and accountability is right with me” for a season that’s seen the Cowboys allow the most points in the league while ranking near the bottom of the league in most key defensive metrics. The group Eberflus had to work with was shaken up shortly before the season when Micah Parsons was traded to the Packers and Eberflus was asked how much that changed things for the team.
“I don’t know if it changed that much,” Eberflus said. “Obviously you have an All-Pro pass rusher that wins really quick, that’s certainly going to help any defense if it’s Micah or if it’s Myles [Garrett] or whoever it might be. That impact player is always going to help to a certain degree on pass downs and other downs. Again, you can’t look back. It is what it is and you just focus on where you are.”
A tweet featuring those comments caught Parsons’ eye on Thursday and it’s hard to argue that the move impacted the way the defense performed over the course of the season. It’s also hard to argue that looking back on what could have been is of little value to Eberflus or the Cowboys based on how things have actually played out.
Next year’s defensive coordinator won’t have the Parsons issue hanging over their head and they’ll need to do a better job with any pieces on hand in order for the Cowboys to make it back to the postseason.
