Should The Cowboys Try To Sign Mike Williams?

The Seattle Seahawks have released wide receiver Mike Williams. The Dallas Cowboys have to fill their third wide receiver position.

Hmm.

This is a situation to watch very closely. Williams is a wide receiver that makes much more sense than rookie Josh Gordon, whom Dallas was interested in during the supplemental draft. The price was too high for Gordon, with the Cleveland Browns giving up a second-round pick in 2013 for him. However, the Cowboys were reportedly willing to part with a midrange draft pick for Gordon. Twitter conversations indicated Dallas may have graded Gordon as a second-round talent, but still saw too much risk to go that high (the feeling was Dallas would have put in a third-round bid).

If Dallas was willing to pay that much for an untried rookie who did not play a down in 2011, how about an NFL veteran who has one very good season (2010: 65 catches, 761 yards, 2 touchdowns) on his resume? Could this be a player who might have a Laurent Robinson-style impact?

Make the jump...

While that is something that cannot be answered in advance, there are some interesting details that would indicate at least the possibility. According to the USA Today article on him, Williams' performance was affected by the quarterback situation in Seattle. The team lost Matt Hasselbeck after the 2010 season when Williams was at his best, and went with Tavaris Jaskson instead.

But the connection Williams had with Matt Hasselbeck in 2010 never materialized with Jackson. Williams caught just 18 passes for 236 yards and one touchdown in 2011.

My thinking is that playing with Hasselbeck is more like being on a team with a guy like, say, Tony Romo, than having Jackson throwing to you. And if he has found chemistry once, perhaps it could happen again. You know, like with that Robinson guy.

And then there are the measurables (from his USC pro day and the NFL combine in 2005):

Maybe it's just me, but that looks an awful lot like exactly what Dallas is looking for in a wide receiver, particularly his size. He is hardly a perfect candidate, having had problems with his weight (he got up to 271, but was reported to be 235 last season in Seattle) and drops. He was out of the NFL completely in 2008 and 2009, and he is recovering from a broken ankle suffered in week 15 of last year. Seattle took a bit of a chance signing him for the 2010 season - but it paid off big time.

Williams was going to make $3 million this season with the Seahawks. He may well be worth that kind of deal, if there is not a large amount of guaranteed money on the line. The team will apparently have the weekend to consider what to offer him.

For all you asking, Mike Williams was not on the wire today...he might be Monday but until then you sit tight.

— Bryan Broaddus (@BryanBroaddus) July 13, 2012

To me, this is a player worth much more consideration than Gordon was (thank you, Cleveland, for taking that off the table). If it were up to me, and assuming my understanding of things is correct, I would open negotiations with him to come in, most likely to eventually replace Kevin Ogletree. That would still leave an opportunity to get two or three of the more exciting rookies on the team (my choices: Danny Coale, Andre Holmes, and Cole Beasley). And a properly structured deal could make him a low-risk signing. Of course, I'm sure plenty of other teams will be looking at him as well.

But they don't have Jerry Jones to seal the deal. And what Jerry wants, Jerry usually gets, especially if Jason Garrett also wants.

So, what do you think?