Less than 24 hours after being traded from the only NFL home he’s known, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams arrived at the Dallas Cowboys’ team facility on Wednesday to meet with his new teammates, coaches and the local media about his new chapter.
Even though his name was brought up in some below-the-surface trade buzz leading up to the deadline, Williams, a three-time Pro Bowler, was still caught off guard when he got the phone call from his agent on Tuesday afternoon that he was being sent elsewhere by the New York Jets.
“Definitely was surprised by it,” Williams said. “It’s unbelievable, though, man, to be able to come to an organization where there’s so much history, so much talent on the team, great ownership, and great group of guys in the locker room and a great head coach and the things these guys are doing here. So, I’m super happy to be a part of this.”
Despite the major life and career change, Williams has called the last 24 hours “simple” to handle. He will remain in Dallas through the bye week to ramp his conditioning back up, as he is coming off another bye week with the Jets last week. That will include getting well-acquainted with the training staff throughout the week before putting his body through a game-day style workout Sunday that will test his conditioning.
“I’m one of those people, I can’t wait to get to work because I feel like actions speak louder than words,” he said. “This organization [is] taking a chance on me and trading for me, giving me the honor to come in and help this team win football games and do the best I can do to do my job.
“I’m getting into the playbook so we can go win football games, and I think that’s the ultimate thing that matters, to make sure I’m physically and mentally right to go out there and dominate on Sundays.”
It’s not only “unbelievable” for Williams, in his words, to be traded to the Cowboys. But in arriving to Dallas, he will also reunite with defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton, who coached him for four seasons from 2021 to 2024 in New York. Under his tutelage, Williams became a first-team All-Pro in 2022 and strung together three straight Pro Bowl nods.
“I set out to be a good DT,” he said. “When Whitecotton came into my life as a coach, I became an All-Pro and a Pro Bowler. The techniques that he has taught me, the things that he has done for me in my career when it comes down to coaching and stuff like that, have been unbelievable and kind of transcended my career to this day. So, being paired back with him, I know the sky’s the limit, not only for me but for this group also.”
In what is trending to be a seventh losing season for the Jets in his seven years with the franchise, Williams had reportedly grown frustrated behind the scenes about the direction of the franchise. As he heads into a new chapter in Dallas, he is starving for different results.
“I definitely want to be part of a winning culture,” he said. “And want to do my job to the best of my ability to help this thing go in the right direction and to where we all know it can go.
“I’m hungry to win. That’s the main thing. Like I said in the beginning, I’m an ultimate competitor, man. Everything I do is about winning. Everything I do, everything I work when I wake up, I just want to win.”