The hits keeping coming. The latest Cowboy to get whacked? Wide receiver Roy Williams. Jerry Jones is finally throwing the towel in on his trade, one that has never worked out as hoped. Williams has been surpassed by Miles Austin, and now by Dez Bryant, and the Cowboys felt the need to move on.
Roy Williams was scheduled to make $5.1 million as a base salary in 2011, and his salaries would have increased until his contract ended in 2013. Accounts vary, but most observers like the DMN's Gerry Fraley agree that his cap salary (including the prorated part of his signing bonus) in 2011 would have been about $9.5 million.
Because of the remaining proration of his contract, it was assumed that "the Cowboys are on the hook for $12.9 million if Williams is cut." Effectively, it would have cost the Cowboys money to release Roy Williams - under the rules of the old CBA. Calvin Watkins from ESPNDallas.com is reporting that if Roy Williams is a June 1 cut under the new CBA, Williams saves the Cowboys $5 million in 2011.
Williams never came into his own as a receiver in Dallas. He finished 2010 with 37 catches and 530 yards, one less catch and 66 less yards than in 2009.
He also doesn't fit the mold of the kind of guy that would prosper as a third receiver. Roy's inconsistency, and penchant for dropping passes, never endeared him to the Cowboys faithful, and his off-the-field comments were not always well-received, either.
The trade was a flop, but the Cowboys are moving on. They are shedding weight from their past, and are re-making this team in the image of Jason Garrett.
And they need the money...