There were several blockbuster trades at the NFL Trade deadline this year. One of the biggest was the New York Jets sending former Alabama All-American defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for DT Mazi Smith, a 2026 2nd round pick, and a 2027 1st round pick.
Williams was the No. 3 overall pick by the Jets in 2019 and had spent his whole career to this point in New York. He is regarded as one of the top defensive tackles in the NFL and was a 2022 first-team All-Pro. He's also made the Pro Bowl in each of the last three seasons.
ESPN's criticism of the trade has nothing to do with Williams' immense talent; he will undoubtedly help the Cowboys right away. It has everything to do with the price Dallas paid in order to land the former Crimson Tide star.
ESPN's Seth Walder gave the Cowboys an "F" grade for the move.
Walder admits that Williams is a great player, but calls the trade "horrific" for the Cowboys and writes:
"It is completely unfathomable for a team like Dallas to be trading away major draft resources for a soon-to-be-28-year-old defensive tackle on a salary-heavy contract in a season when it has a 7% chance to make the playoffs, per ESPN's Football Power Index. And yet here we are."
The biggest issue he has is with the Cowboys making a win-now trade in a season in which they are 3-5-1 and have little chance to get to the playoffs. It's even more puzzling in light of the Micah Parsons trade before the season, which signaled to some that perhaps the Cowboys were going to rebuild themselves.
You just never know what Jerry Jones is thinking.
Quinnen Williams will make a big impact on the Cowboys defense
Williams has yet to taste playoff football in the NFL. The Jets never won more than seven games in his 6+ seasons with the franchise. They certainly aren't going to do that this year, either, sitting at 1-7, especially after trading Williams and star CB Sauce Gardner at the deadline.
Unfortunately, Williams probably won't taste playoff football this year, either. The Cowboys have a slippery uphill climb ahead of them to try and claw their way into the postseason. But Williams will undoubtedly serve to immediately improve one of the league's worst defenses.
The Cowboys are 30th in the NFL in EPA per run on defense. Williams is 2nd in the league in run stop win rate among interior defensive linemen, per Walder.
It may be a bit of a head-scratching move for the Cowboys to make this season because they don't look that close to contending. But Williams is still only 27 years old and is sure to make a big difference in Dallas for years to come.